Before the game, there were celebrations by the Kansas City Chiefs—players, coaches, and fans alike—of their recent Super Bowl title.
Afterwards, it was stunned silence among the sea of red.
The Detroit Lions walked into the loudest stadium in the NFL, up against the best team in the league, and proved that their head coach, Dan Campbell, knows how to right the ship with the franchise, and everyone now knows it.
Jared Goff threw for 253 yards and a touchdown for the Lions, and ex-Chicago Bears running back David Montgomery had the eventual game-winning touchdown with seven minutes left in the game as Detroit held on for a 21-20 win over the reigning Super Bowl champions.
While the gridiron football world was stunned by the outcome, Campbell wasn't.
"We expected to win this game," he said, having coached his Lions to eight wins in their final 10 games last season. "We came in here, knew what we needed to do, knew it wasn't going to be easy, and we did that. We won."
Top wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown caught six balls for 71 yards and had the opening touchdown of the 2023 NFL season, and rookie Brian Branch had the first interception off Patrick Mahomes in a Chiefs opener, returning it 50 yards for the pick six.
In what was a tight game that went down to the wire, the Lions looked to run out the clock when Goff tired a 4th & 2 pass, which was batted down by Chiefs safety Justin Reid with 2:30 left to give Kansas City life.
The Chiefs, however, ended up going backwards in their drive. Kadarius Toney dropped his third pass of the night after his first drop resulted in the Branch pick six. The drop would have been for a gain of at least 20.
Then a deep completion was nullified by a Donovan Smith holding penalty, Skyy Moore dropped another deep pass, and a false start by Jawaan Taylor resulted in Mahomes being forced to throw on 4th & 25.
The self-inflicted wounds for the Chiefs were too much for them to overcome, even when Mahomes finished with 226 passing yards and throwing two touchdowns, also leading the team in rushing yards, with 46.
One of those touchdown passes was the first career touchdown reception for Rashee Rice, the team's second round wide receiver pick out of SMU in this year's Draft.
Much of the anticipation was from the more than 80,000 people coming in to see the latest championship banner getting unveiled at Arrowhead Stadium. In the last celebration, approximately 18,000 fans were able to join because of the pandemic.
Then the anxiety was about how the team would fare without injured superstar tight end Travis Kelce and fellow All-Pro Chris Jones, who is holding out because of his contract situation. Jones missed the opener, having sat in a stadium suite, while Kelce was questionable because of a hyperextended knee he suffered on Tuesday.
Slow starts doomed the Lions in the last two years, as they went 2-14 in Weeks 1-9 in the last two seasons combined. But they made a point to not have that happen again this season.
These two teams had two of the league's top offenses last season. With Jones out of the equation, Goff saw cleaner pockets and it led to him finding St. Brown for the first touchdown of the NFL season from 9 yards out on a crossing route.
St. Brown became the first player in Lions history to reach 200 receptions in his first three NFL seasons with his fourth catch of the night, showing that he is Goff's most reliable receiver since he came to Detroit in 2021 in the Matthew Stafford trade, and much of the same is to be expected from the two.
Kansas City answered with a long drive where Mahomes connected with five different receivers, with the last one being Rice, who made up for an early drop with a short touchdown catch at the back of the end zone.
Then it seemed as if the Chiefs would take off.
After Campbell decided to accept a holding penalty on Trey Smith, Mahomes answered with back-to-back big plays, the first on a 24-yard strike to Marquez Valdes-Scantling on 3rd & 17, followed by a 26-yard dart to Justin Watson at the left sideline. He finished it with a short touchdown throw to third-string tight end Blake Bell to give Kansas City a 14-7 halftime lead.
Before Branch's pick, Mahomes threw 20 touchdown passes without an interception through 22 quarters as the Chiefs' starting quarterback in season openers.
Branch became the first player with a pick six in his Lions debut since 1967.
While Harrison Butker added two field goals, they came on missed opportunities, and Detroit made them pay with Montgomery's touchdown on an eight-play, 75-yard drive.
Several streaks were snapped in this game: The Lions broke their five-game skid in season openers, having went 0-4-1 in the last five years, previously winning in 2017. They ended the Chiefs' seven-game winning streak in season-opening games.
Another streak that ended was Marvin Jones' streak without a fumble, as this was the first fumble of his 12-year NFL career, when second-year cornerback Trent McDuffie knocked the ball out of his hands deep in Chiefs territory, with the fumble recovered by fellow sophomore Bryan Cook.
One of the offseason additions, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, is bought into this Lions team, and knows they are for real. It especially was the case when defensive lineman Josh Paschal blew up a Chiefs trick play where Rice ran on an end around on 3rd & 1.
"This win means that this ain't the same Detroit. I keep reiterating that," said the former New Orleans Saint and Philadelphia Eagle. "From the joint practices to all the other practices, winners know what winners look like. This team is full of winners. Being on teams that's been successful, I'm just happy to be a part of guys that want to play ball and go out here and get a W. No matter who out there on the field or what's on the clock, these guys are going to fight. S***, we're all going to fight."
Goff has looked in-sync with his guys, completing passes to seven different receivers, including running back Jahmyr Gibbs and tight end Sam LaPorta, the Lions' two offensive rookies.
The Lions head to their home at Ford Field to take on the Seattle Seahawks next Sunday, on September 17th.
While the Chiefs lost, they can afford to take one here, given that Kelce has 10 days to heal his knee. They were sputtering offensively in the opener, with receivers having trouble finding separation and several crucial drops.
Mahomes completed passes to 11 different receivers, though it seems that they're at a point where they were missing Kelce more than they were missing Jones.
While they weren't perfect on the pass rush, they were effective at times, with Mike Danna having a third down stack to end one drive and George Karlaftis knocking down a screen pass on another third down play.
They don't have a true no. 1 wide receiver, and Toney missed all of training camp after having surgery for a torn meniscus and just recently returned to practice.
While Mahomes finished 21 of 39 passing, he was 10 of 22 when throwing to wide receivers, his worst completion percentage to wideouts in 35 career games when attempting at least 20 passes to receivers. The leading receiver for them was sophomore running back Isiah Pacheco, who had four catches.
They will have an opportunity to get back in stride when they travel to Jacksonville at EverBank Stadium to take on the Jaguars, and they will work to get Kelce ready for that game. And judging from what was shown against the Lions, they will certainly need him.
Scoring
Detroit, 2:49 1st: Amon-Ra St. Brown 9-yard TD pass from Jared Goff (Riley Patterson kick); 7-0 Detroit
Kansas City, 11:50 2nd: Rashee Rice 1-yard TD pass from Patrick Mahomes (Harrison Butker kick); 7-7 Tie
Kansas City, 0:34 2nd: Blake Bell 4-yard TD pass from Patrick Mahomes (Harrison Butker kick); 14-7 Kansas City
Detroit, 10:54 3rd: Brian Branch 50-yard interception return TD (Riley Patterson kick); 14-14 Tie
Kansas City, 2:10 3rd: Harrison Butker 35-yard field goal; 17-14 Kansas City
Kansas City, 12:11 4th: Harrison Butker 39-yard field goal; 20-14 Kansas City
Detroit, 7:06 4th: David Montgomery 8-yard TD run (Riley Patterson kick); 21-20 Detroit
Passing
DETROIT LIONS
Jared Goff: 22/35, 253 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 1 sack, 94.1 passer rating
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
Patrick Mahomes: 21/39, 226 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT, 0 sacks, 77.5 passer rating
Rushing
DETROIT LIONS
David Montgomery: 21 attempts, 74 yards, 1 TD
Jahmyr Gibbs: 7 attempts, 42 yards, 0 TD
Jalen Reeves-Maybin: 1 attempt, 3 yards, 0 TD
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
Patrick Mahomes: 6 attempts, 45 yards, 0 TD
Isiah Pacheco: 8 attempts, 23 yards, 0 TD
Clyde Edwards-Helaire: 6 attempts, 22 yards, 0 TD
Receiving
DETROIT LIONS
Josh Reynolds: 4 receptions, 80 yards, 0 TD
Amon-Ra St. Brown: 6 receptions, 71 yards, 1 TD
Sam LaPorta: 5 receptions, 39 yards, 0 TD
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
Marquez Valdes-Scantling: 2 receptions, 48 yards, 0 TD
Justin Watson: 2 receptions, 45 yards, 0 TD
Noah Gray: 3 receptions, 31 yards, 0 TD
Rashee Rice: 3 receptions, 29 yards, 1 TD
Blake Bell: 2 receptions, 12 yards, 1 TD
Defensive
DETROIT LIONS
Alex Anzalone: 6 tackles (5 solo), 1 QB hit, 1 pass defensed
Derrick Barnes: 6 tackles (4 solo), 1 TFL
C.J. Gardner-Johnson: 5 tackles (5 solo), 2 passes defensed
Aidan Hutchinson: 4 tackles (3 solo), 3 QB hits
Brian Branch: 3 tackles (2 solo), 1 pass defensed, 1 interceptions, 1 touchdown
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
Trent McDuffie: 8 tackles (6 solo), 1 forced fumble
Bryan Cook: 7 tackles (4 solo), 1 fumble recovery
Nick Bolton: 7 tackles (4 solo)
George Karlaftis: 7 tackles (3 solo), 1 TFL, 1 pass defensed
Mike Danna: 6 tackles (4 solo), 1 TFL, 1 QB hit, 1 sack, 1 pass defensed
Justin Reid: 6 tackles (4 solo), 2 passes defensed
L'Jarius Sneed: 6 tackles (3 solo), 1 TFL, 1 QB hit
Team Stats
First Downs: Lions 19, Chiefs 17
Passing First Downs: Lions 11, Chiefs 10
Rushing First Downs: Lions 8, Chiefs 6
First Downs from Penalties: Lions 0, Chiefs 1
3rd Downs: Lions 5/15, Chiefs 5/14
4th Downs: Lions 1/3, Chiefs 0/1
Total Yards: Lions 368, Chiefs 316
Passing Yards: Lions 250, Chiefs 226
Team Passing: Lions 22/35, Chiefs 21/39
Yards Per Pass: Lions 6.9, Chiefs 5.8
Sacks—Yards Lost: Lions 1—3 yards, Chiefs 0—0 yards
Rushing Yards: Lions 118, Chiefs 90
Rushing Attempts: Lions 34, Chiefs 23
Yards Per Rush: Lions 3.5, Chiefs 3.9
Red Zone: Lions 2/3, Chiefs 2/3
Penalties: Lions 4—63 yards, Chiefs 3—25 yards
Turnovers: Lions 1, Chiefs 1
Fumbles Lost: Lions 1, Chiefs 0
Interceptions Thrown: Lions 0, Chiefs 1
Possession: Lions 32:38, Chiefs 27:22
Miscellaneous
Venue: Arrowhead Stadium
Location: Kansas City, MO
Attendance: 73,522 (Capacity: 73,426)
Weather: Cloudy, 87°F
Winds: NNE 7 mph
Broadcast: NBC/Peacock
Commentators: Mike Tirico (PxP), Cris Collinsworth (color), Melissa Stark (reporter), Maria Taylor (reporter), Terry McAulay (rules analyst)
Officiating crew: John Hussey (referee), Carl Paganelli (umpire), Frank LeBlanc (down judge), Carl Johnson (line judge), Anthony Fleming (field judge), Allen Baynes (side judge), Matt Edwards (back judge)
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