The Detroit Lions knew they were facing off against the hungry Kansas City Chiefs team, and you could tell they were prepared to get into a shootout from the opening drive.
Unfortunately for Detroit, in critical, can’t-miss moments in the game, the Lions made some of their biggest mistakes. That gave the edge to the Chiefs around the midway point of the game, and Kansas City never looked back.
On the very first drive, the Lions had a touchdown called back by a preventable penalty. Then in the second quarter when the Lions were holding a lead, Amon-Ra St. Brown dropped a fourth down pass that arguably turned into a 14-point swing right before halftime.
There were other problems, too. Detroit’s defense was picked apart by the Chiefs’ quick, short passing game. The Lions’ offense stalled in the worst possible times. Put it all together, and it resulted in a 30-17 Chiefs win.
Here’s how the game played out.
First quarter
The Detroit Lions won the toss and opted to receive, a change in strategy. After a pair of runs, the Lions faced a third-and-5 on their opening series. Jared Goff calmly found a wide open Sam LaPorta for an 11-yard gain to keep the drive alive. A pair of passes to Jameson Williams gained 22 yards and put the Lions into field goal territory. From there, the Lions turned to their run game Jahmyr Gibbs converted a third down, then drove the team inside the 10-yard line with a decent pickup. Facing a third-and-goal from the 2-yard line, the Lions came up a yard short. Obviously, the Lions opted to go for it, and they appeared to convert with a trick play throw to Goff.
However, Goff committed an illegal shift on the play, and after a conversation the officials threw the flag. Detroit then opted to settle for a field goal and Jake Bates drilled it from 28 yards. 3-0 Lions.
While the Lions’ offense chipped away at the Chiefs defense with a slow, methodical drive, the Chiefs’ offense hit on explosive plays with their opening drive. It kicked off with a pass to Travis Kelce that he turned upfield for a 15-yard gain. Then Patrick Mahomes hit JuJu Smith-Schuster for 30 yards. On the next play, Isiah Pacheco turned the corner for an 11-yard pickup into the red zone. The Lions were able to force a third-and-8, and Mahomes scrambled for 5 yards, setting up a fourth-and-3. Kansas City opted to go for it, and Xavier Worthy beat Amik Robertson to the flats for a 6-yard touchdown. Harrison Butker did miss the extra point, though. 6-3 Chiefs.
Detroit hit on an explosive play of their own on the final play of the first quarter. Goff stood tall in the pocket with good protection and found LaPorta for a 26-yard gain into Chiefs territory.
Second quarter
David Montgomery opened the second quarter with a 13-yard run up the gut. On the ensuing third-and-3, Goff threw a dart to Jameson Williams over the middle of the field, and the young receiver took it to the house for a 22-yard touchdown. 10-6 Lions.
Aidan Hutchinson nearly got Mahomes on the opening play of the next drive, but the Chiefs quarterback shrugged him off and hit Hollywood Brown for 20 yards
On the next play, safety Kerby Joseph, who entered the game questionable with a knee injury, suffered an injury. He was officially listed as questionable to return. Thomas Harper entered the game for him.
Again, the Chiefs opted to go for it on fourth down, this time a fourth-and-1 from Detroit’s 41-yard line, and Kareem Hunt took the fullback dive for a first down. Aidan Hutchinson picked up a sack that forced the Chiefs into a third-and-long…
…but a screen pass got the Chiefs into another fourth-and-1. Kansas City opted to go for it again, but this time the Lions stopped them thanks to a big pass breakup from Harper.
The Lions marched downfield thanks to a third-down scramble from Goff and a 15-yard gain from Gibbs. The Lions then faced a critical fourth down of their own—a fourth-and-2 from the Chiefs’ 44-yard line—but Amon-Ra St. Brown couldn’t haul in a low pass from Goff.
From there, the Chiefs worked their two-minute offense. That included a key third-and-10 pickup on a pass interference on Rock Ya-Sin, giving Kansas City 14 free yards. Then Mahomes hit Kelce all the way down to the 1-yard line, and the Chiefs quarterback plunged in from there to make it 13-10 Chiefs with 37 seconds left in the half.
Note: Kerby Joseph returned to the game this drive.
The Lions offense started from their own 32-yard line with one timeout and 33 seconds left, but Detroit went three-and-out. So the two teams went into halftime with a 13-10 score.
Third quarter
Kansas City opened the half with the ball and attacked the short area of the field with their quick passing game. Mahomes completed passes of 9, 19, 13, and 11 yards all the way down into the red zone. Then he capped the drive with a shovel pass to Brown for a 9-yard score. 20-10 Chiefs.
Detroit couldn’t answer, unfortunately. After a Gibbs swing pass lost 3 yards, the Lions faced a third-and-11, and a WR screen was blown up by the Chiefs defense.
The Chiefs were pinned up by their own end zone, but Mahomes found Travis Kelce on a third-and-7 to create some space and keep the drive alive. The Lions were able to get the stop on the next series of downs when a Mahomes scramble was stopped 2 yards short of the sticks.
Montgomery got the Lions’ offense off to a nice start with a 23-yard reception.
Goff then completed three straight passes to St. Brown for 12, 11, and 6 yards, respectively. Another pass to Montgomery took the Lions all the way down to the 9-yard line for the final play of the third quarter.
Fourth quarter
Sam LaPorta made it a one-score game with an outstanding catch in the back of the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown. 20-17 Chiefs.
Kansas City was able to pick up free 15 yards to spark the next drive after Hutchinson hit Mahomes late and was flagged for roughing the passer. Mahomes made the Lions pay with completions of 14, 10, and 8 yards down into the red zone. Then, on third-and-goal from the 3-yard line, Mahomes found a wide open Hollywood Brown for the score to make it 27-17 Chiefs with 9:30 remaining.
The Lions needed an answer, but they didn’t have one. Detroit went quickly three-and-out after a first down run was blown up in the backfield. A good punt return put the Chiefs already on the Lions’ side of the field, as the game was quickly spinning out of control for Detroit.
The Chiefs offense just bullied the exhausted Lions defense from there, bleeding most of the remaining clock and all of Detroit’s timeouts with several first downs. Detroit did hold the Chiefs to a field goal, making the score 30-17 Chiefs with 2:26 remaining.
The Lions went four-and-out, and that was the ballgame.
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