Chiefs defeat white-hot Lions comfortably in Arrowhead
Balanced effort and mistake-free football propel Kansas City back to .500. The Chiefs' defense contained the league's leading offense, and Mahomes reached a milestone in dominating fashion.
A double dip, a strong defense and quarterback Patrick Mahomes took center stage Sunday night when the Chiefs hosted the Detroit Lions at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
Combine the three and the Chiefs rode the momentum to a convincing 30-17 win to improve to 3-3 on the season.
The Chiefs scored a touchdown to close out the first half, followed by a touchdown on the first possession of the second half.
“It was huge,” Mahomes said of scoring on both drives. “I think we learned from last week. Last week, we got the ball out of half, and we went three-and-out quickly, and it gave momentum back to the Jaguars, so we were really emphasizing in the locker room we need to go out there and score and put the momentum back in our favor, and we were able to do that.
We got backed up and we didn’t get going the way we wanted to, but it was important to get that lead back and get the momentum – get Arrowhead especially, get the crowd going because it makes it difficult for that offense – any other offense to get out there and do work.”
The Chiefs were down 10-6 before that stretch, but by the end of it, they found themselves up 20-10.
And they never looked back.
Mahomes produced a magnificent performance, completing 22-of-30 passes for 257 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions for a 132.2 passer rating. Two of Mahomes’ touchdown passes went to wide receiver Hollywood Brown, who caught all four of his targets.
Mahomes has been impressed with Brown, who is now averaging over 50 yards per game and has three touchdowns on the season. This comes on the heels of a 2024 campaign that had a lot of promise but was marred by injuries.
“I think with Hollywood (Brown), he’s always had the talent, he’s dealt with a lot of injuries, and when he’s there, he plays hard,” Mahomes said. “He understands the game, and he does a great job, and the great thing about this offense is it can come from everywhere.”
In this game, Mahomes became the fastest player to record 300 touchdowns. He accomplished the feat in 139 regular and postseason games. Aaron Rodgers previously held the record at 147 games.
When asked about this feat, Mahomes gave an answer that should be music to Chiefs’ fans’ ears.
“It’s extremely cool. I’ve been blessed,” Mahomes said. I always say it and I mean it, ‘I’ve been blessed.’ I got drafted here in Kansas City, a great community, a great ownership, and then getting one of the best football coaches of all-time and some of the greatest players of all-time around me. It makes my job a lot easier when I’m able to throw to some great ones and let’s continue it, let’s have some fun, and we’ve got a long career ahead, and let’s see how many we can get to.”
Mahomes took full advantage of an injured Lions secondary, which was down three of its top defenders.
The Chiefs signal-caller connected with eight different receivers, with tight end Travis Kelce hauling in a team-high six catches for 78 yards.
This was the third game in a row in which the Chiefs scored at least 28 points.
This one was especially impressive, given that rookie sensation left tackle Josh Simmons was declared out for the game just hours before kickoff due to personal reasons.
The Chiefs’ biggest offseason signing, offensive tackle Jaylon Moore, took his place.
Detroit did come into the week with the second-most sacks in the NFL and Mahomes was sacked three times, but he had enough time to throw for 8.6 yards per attempt.
It was an extra special day for Moore.
“Jaylon, I thought, did a nice job,” Reid said after the game. “He just had a baby, too, which is a great thing, last night or early this morning, however you want to put it.
But he stepped in – Josh (Simmons) was gone for personal reasons, so for him to step in was a nice thing, and I thought he did a nice job. Tribute to (offensive line coach) Andy (Heck) for rolling those guys during the week and getting that part done.”
Outside of Kelce and Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster was another top target. The nine-year veteran brought in all three of his targets for 57 yards.
In a somewhat shocking development, the Chiefs out-rushed the Lions. Isiah Pacheco accounted for 51 yards, with Mahomes using 10 carries to rack up 32 after three kneels to end the game.
The game started off in unique fashion.
Detroit went the opposite direction of conventional wisdom after winning the opening toss.
Instead of deferring, the Lions elected to receive to open the game and went on a 15-play, 69-yard drive, but the drive stalled at the Chiefs’ 1-yard line.
The Lions appeared to score a touchdown after Jared Goff came out from under center and went in motion to the left. The ball was snapped to David Montgomery, who threw to Goff for an apparent touchdown.
The play, though, drew a penalty because Goff didn’t set before the ball was snapped after a lengthy discussion amongst the referees. Next, Arrowhead did their part and induced a delay of game on a fourth and goal from the six before the Lions had to settle for a 28-yard field goal.
The Chiefs responded in kind on the subsequent possession.
Mahomes engineered an 8-play, 70-yard drive, which featured a 15-yard strike to Kelce, a 30-yard completion to wide receiver Smitch-Schuster, an 11-yard run by Pacheco and Mahomes finding wide receiver Xavier Worthy for a 6-yard touchdown pass on a fourth-and-3 situation.
“If he’s (Worthy) in man coverage, he can win and get that open,” Mahomes said of going for it on fourth down. “It went from being a tightly contested throw to me just lobbing it out there and letting him get in the end zone.”
Kicker Harrison Butker, however, missed the extra point, giving the Chiefs a 6-3 lead. Butker has now missed three extra points this season.
Detroit answered with a 6-play, 71-yard drive, which saw Goff complete on two explosive plays on a 26-yard pass to tight end Sam LaPorta and a 22-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jameson Williams. Lions kicker Jake Bates’ extra point was good to give his team a 10-6 lead.
The Chiefs’ next possession stalled deep in Detroit territory.
After Smith-Schuster took a short pass 17 yards to the Lions’ 19-yard line to set up a fourth-and-1 situation, Mahomes’ pass to Worthy fell incomplete to give the Lions the ball.
Detroit repaid the favor to the Chiefs by also failing to convert a fourth-down situation on the next possession, giving the Chiefs a short field to work with at the Lions’ 44-yard line.
Mahomes made sure his team took advantage of the situation by marching the Chiefs down the field in eight plays, and Mahomes finished the possession with a 1-yard touchdown run to give the Chiefs a 13-10 lead at halftime.
After the double dip earned the Chiefs a 10-point lead, the two powerhouse offenses exchanged blows one more time, with the Chiefs maintaining their comfortable lead.
The Lions did pull within three after Goff found LaPorta in the back of the endzone for a four-yard touchdown. The 20-17 score did not last long after a nine-play, 69-yard touchdown drive that ended with Brown’s second touchdown pass of the evening.
After taking a jet-sweep pass for his first touchdown, Brown was wide open along the right side on his second one.
“For that play, we saw man, and you know it’s going to be a race across the end zone,” Brown said. “When you’re playing with a great tight end like Trav (Kelce), he attracts a lot of attention. For me, it was just racing across the field.”
The Chiefs forced a three-and-out on the Lions’ ensuing offensive drive before Butker put through a 33-yarder for good measure, making it 30-17.
Defensively, the Chiefs swarmed the potent Lions offense and mostly kept quarterback Jared Goff in check.
The Lions entered the game averaging over 34 points per game, which led the league. Goff was efficient, going 23-for-29 for 203 yards and two touchdowns, but defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s unit kept everything in front of them all night.
Two-time All-Pro wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown was targeted 10 times and hauled in nine, but only for 45 yards. Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie guarded him the majority of the time.
Their vaunted rushing attack, headlined by Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs, was held in check for the most part, too. The duo combined for 89 yards on 21 carries with no touchdowns.
“It feels great,” linebacker Nick Bolton said. “I thought we played the run a little bit better – especially in the first half – I think they average somewhere close to five yards per carry. As we keep going, we’ll get better with that. I thought we played great today. Our d-line and DBs working together, and obviously, the offense went out there and put points on the board and made them one-dimensional in that aspect. I thought we played pretty well today.”
As evidenced by the production of Detroit’s three best weapons, the Kansas City defense did a terrific job of rallying to the football, as safety Chamarri Conner led the way with a team-high 14 tackles.
On another encouraging note, the Chiefs were called for zero penalties in response to last week’s debacle in Jacksonville, where they had 13 accepted against them.
Neither team turned the ball over in what was a clean game from start to finish.
The Chiefs only sacked Goff once, but there was a reason for that. The Chiefs’ defense was giving him the short stuff and the seasoned veteran got the ball out quickly all game long.
Defensive end Charles Omenihu was responsible for their one sack, with defensive end Chris Jones providing the pressure.
END OF GAME SCUFFLE
The game also ended in unique fashion. Before the clock even hit double zeros, there was a scuffle between both teams.
Smith-Schuster and Lions safety Brian Branch were the most involved in the altercation, with Branch seen throwing a punch that knocked Smith-Schuster to the ground. It would not be shocking to see the league take some action against the involved parties.
“ … the guy (Branch) came up and hit JuJu (Smith-Schuster) for what looked like no reason. We were taking a knee, that’s tough. I mean, put pretty good damage on JuJu’s nose.”
INJURIES
The Chiefs listed rookie left tackle Josh Simmons (personal), cornerback Kristian Fulton, running back Elijah Mitchell, defensive end Malik Herring and tight end Jared Wiley as inactive.
UP NEXT
The Chiefs host the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 7 at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in what should be wide receiver Rashee Rice’s return to the offense.
KC Sports Network’s Herbie Teope contributed to this report.
