DETROIT – The Detroit Lions put the entire NFL on notice Thursday night with an upset win over the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs to open the season.
Jared Goff kneeled the ball three times to the sound of thousands of Lions fans taking over Arrowhead Stadium on the night the Chiefs raised a Super Bowl banner.
For the first time in years, the Lions began a season with legitimate playoff expectations, and they looked the part Thursday while taking down Patrick Mahomes in what turned out to be a defensive battle.
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Sluggish offensive start
Detroit jumped out to an early 7-0 lead when Jared Goff hit -- guess who? -- Amon-Ra St. Brown from nine yards out on the team’s second possession. The drive was sparked by a risky decision from Dan Campbell, who dialed up a fake punt way back inside the Lions’ own 20-yard line.
It worked, and an offense that was on its way to a second-straight three-and-out instead marched 75 yards for a touchdown.
The Chiefs answered with a couple of scores to take a 14-7 lead into halftime, but Detroit responded with a stop and then a game-changing pick-six from rookie Brian Branch to tie the game in the third quarter.
Defense battles, offense finally pulls through
On defense, Aidan Hutchinson was in Mahomes’ pocket all night. He didn’t register a sack, but he forced a trio of key incompletions as the Lions held the Chiefs to just a pair of field goals after the break.
That was enough to give Goff and the offense opportunity after opportunity to break through, until, finally, it happened. With seven minutes remaining, David Montgomery scored his first touchdown as a Lion from eight yards to polish off a drive highlighted by a pair of critical catches from Josh Reynolds.
Riley Patterson’s third extra point of the night put the Lions up 21-20.
Their work wasn’t over, though. Campbell took another gamble around midfield, trying to convert a fourth down and 2 instead of pinning the Chiefs deep with under three minutes to play.
It didn’t work, but the Lions’ defense came through once again, drawing a holding penalty that ultimately proved too much even for Mahomes.
Montgomery picked up a first down on the ensuing drive, and that was enough to run out the clock.
Lions had help from Kansas City receivers
As big as this win was for the Lions, they had a lot of help from Kansas City’s receivers, particularly Kadarius Toney. Kansas City dropped four or five critical passes, including one that was deflected right into Branch’s arms for the pick-six.
Mahomes desperately missed Travis Kelce, who missed the game due to a knee injury he suffered during Tuesday’s practice.
On defense, the Chiefs were without star defensive tackle Chris Jones, who is holding out for a contract extension and raise.
But still, previous Lions teams might not have taken advantage of this opportunity, and they still had to beat the best quarterback in the league. A new-look secondary more than held its own, and Hutchinson was a force rushing from the edge and the inside.