Well, I don’t think too many people expected that. The Detroit Lions completely shocked the NFL world as they upset the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs 21-20 to kick off the new 2023 NFL season.
What a game that was.
Despite seeing their Super Bowl LVII banner raised to the rafters and having all the NFL media backing them, the Kansas City Chiefs suffered their first Week 1 defeat in over five seasons as the Detroit Lions came into Arrowhead Stadium and shut up the crowd, fans, media, and Chiefs players by winning 21-20. And, to be perfectly honest, the Lions completely deserved this win.
Okay, I know a lot of Chiefs fans are going to point to the fact that both Chris Jones, one of the Top-10 best defensive players in football and the best defensive player on the Chiefs, and Travis Kelce, easily the best tight end in football, the best TE/receiving option on the Chiefs, and one of the Top-5 greatest TEs in NFL history, were out with a contract dispute (Jones) and injury (Kelce), and that’s definitely true.
If KC had both of these players, I doubt the Lions would have been able to rack up 118 rushing yards and controlled the time of possession (32:38), while I also doubt the Chiefs would have only scored two TDs, had 218 passing yards, and seen Patrick Mahomes have one of his worst passing games in his career based on his 54% completion percentage if Kelce suited up.
But that’s just an excuse Chiefs fans are making to mask the fact that the Detroit Lions, a team who finished 9-8 last season and were heavy underdogs prior to Kelce’s injury announcement, walked into Kansas City and utterly DOMINATED the Chiefs.
The Lions have secretly and silently put together one of the most formidable defensive and offensive line units in the NFL as the O-Line of Taylor Decker, Jonah Jackson, Frank Ragnow, Halapoulivaati Vaitai, and Penei Sewell destroyed the Chiefs frontline and allowed the running back core of David Montgomery (21 CAR, 74 yards, 1 TD) and Jahmyr Gibbs (7 CAR, 42 yards) to rush 28 times for 118 yards and 1 TD.
As I said, Chris Jones would have stifled some of these runs, but the Lions pretty much pushed aside the Chiefs Super Bowl winning defense (6 starters last night played in the Super Bowl, while Jones is the 7th total starting Chiefs defensive player with a Super Bowl 57 ring) and broke for numerous 5+ yards runs.
There’s really no other way of saying how dominating the Lions offensive line was…other than to say they were overwhelmingly dominant.
The Chiefs couldn’t stop the Lions in the big moments, they gave up a huge fake punt stop earlier on in the game (which is more special teams, but it falls under the same principle), they couldn’t keep the Lions out of the endzone late on in the 4th quarter through the run, and they couldn’t stop the Lions running out the clock after the Chiefs failed to pick up the 4th and 25.
Jared Goff (22/35, 253 yards, 1 TD), Josh Reynolds (4 REC, 80 yards), and Amon-Ra St. Brown (6 REC, 71 yards, 1 TD) played well in the passing attack as they didn’t make any mistakes and accounted for one of the Lions three touchdowns, but the real story of the night was the Lions’ O-Line and the running game. They were SENSATIONAL!
And, as for the Lions defensive side of the ball, the frontline of Aidan Hutchinson (4 tackles, 3 QB hits), Alim McNeil (2 tackles), Benito Jones (4 tackles), and Charles Harris (2 tackles, 1 QB hit) managed to disrupt the Chiefs passing game and completely nullify the Chiefs rushing attack.
Not a single running back on the Chiefs roster had over 25 rushing yards (Isiah Pacheco: 6 CAR, 23 yards; Clyde Edwards-Helaire: 6 CAR, 22 yards) and Patrick Mahomes (21/39, 226 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT; 6 CAR, 45 yards) was the leading rusher with 45 scramble yards, while the Lions defensive frontline forced Mahomes into a lot of early throws, rushed throws, scramble throws, and untimely throws with their pressure.
Sure, Mahomes is still Mahomes and nearly carried the Chiefs to victory despite his own receivers having bricks for hands (they only lost by a single point) and the Lions defense didn’t rack up a single sack, but the pressure was vital in the Chiefs’ pre-snap penalty troubles and the Chiefs chaotic offense.
I mean, there’s a reason why Mahomes only completed 54% of his passes and the Chiefs offense gave the Lions a TD through Kadarius Toney’s (1 REC, 1 yard) bobbled reception right into the hands of Brian Branch (3 tackles, 1 PD, 1 INT, 1 DEF TD) for a Pick-6.
Nevertheless, we really shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves as this is still the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs with Hall of Fame-bound HC Andy Reid, Hall of Fame-bound Travis Kelce, Hall of Fame-bound Patrick Mahomes, 4X All-Pro Chris Jones, and 63% (7/11) Super Bowl-winning starting defense. The Chiefs had the classic banner-raising jitters and fell headfirst into the mud against a growing, confident, young Lions side hungry for a modicum of success.
The Chiefs are going to be Super Bowl contenders, while the Lions are going to have a dogfight on their hands in trying to win the NFC North for the first time since 1993.
But I’m just glad football is FINALLY BACK!
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