KANSAS CITY, Mo. — If the Detroit Lions were the hottest team in the NFL entering a Sunday night showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, Patrick Mahomes and company’s dominant performance should allay concerns after an uncharacteristically sluggish start to the season.
The Chiefs started 0-2, rallied to reach .500, then gave away a game late on Monday Night Football in Jacksonville.
But with a 30-17 victory, Kansas City showed what it’s capable of when the offense is efficient and the defense avoids costly errors, looking every bit the part of a contender once again.
“It was one of those good nights,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said.
One week after being whistled for 13 penalties that cost them 109 yards, there were no penalties called against the Chiefs for the first time since Nov. 13, 2022.
Kansas City beat Jacksonville 27-17 at home that day and went on to win Super Bowl LVII against Philadelphia.
ANOTHER MAHOMES MILESTONE
Mahomes finished 22 of 30 for 257 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
With his first touchdown, a 6-yard dart to Xavier Worthy on fourth down in the first quarter, Mahomes registered yet another milestone, reaching 300 career passing touchdowns combined in the regular season and playoffs.
Mahomes, who now has 256 career regular-season touchdowns and 46 career postseason TD throws, added two second-half touchdown tosses to Hollywood Brown.
Brown hadn’t had a two-touchdown game in more than four years. He had four two-touchdown games with Baltimore, but this was his first since joining Kansas City.
Mahomes also rushed for a touchdown late in the second quarter, accounting for four total touchdowns.
His rushing score was the fourth already in 2025, which tied the career high Mahomes set in 2022. He’s never had more than two rushing TDs in any other season, including zero rushing scores in 2023.
BRANCH 'BULLIED'
Detroit safety Brian Branch, who was questionable with an ankle injury but finished third on the Lions with seven tackles, struck Kansas City wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster in the helmet as the final seconds ticked away.
He claimed it was because he was blocked in the back "illegally" during the game, but the refs didn't call it.
"They be trying to bully me out there," Branch said, "but I should have never did it. It was childish.”
Branch had no interest in high-fiving Mahomes after the final kneel down and then shoved Smith-Schuster, who had three catches for 57 yards in the win.
After getting up off the ground, Smith-Schuster charged Branch, and both teams came together near the Chiefs’ sideline as the stadium fireworks went skyward when the clock hit zero.
No penalties were assessed on the play, but the NFL may still discipline Branch for punching Smith-Schuster.
ST. BROWN BOTTLED UP
Lions slot receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown has always been more of a possession receiver than a big-play threat, but the Chiefs' defense bottled him up.
St. Brown finished with nine catches for only 45 yards, with no catches longer than 12 yards on 10 targets.
It’s the first time in St. Brown’s career he’s ever had at least five catches but averaged 5.0 yards or fewer.
“That's just our DB room,” said defensive back Chamarri Conner, who finished with a game- and career-high 12 tackles. “If guys catch the ball — we try to limit them catches — but, if they do catch it, we try to eliminate that YAC (yards after catch).”
It’s the first time in St. Brown’s career he’s ever had at least five catches in a game but averaged 5.0 yards or fewer.
The one incompletion thrown his way came on a key fourth down late in the second quarter, which gave Kansas City possession near midfield and led to the go-ahead touchdown right before halftime.
“He’s their guy, definitely on third down,” Conner said.
The Chiefs never trailed in the second half after an eight-play, 81-yard march to open the third quarter put the Lions in a 20-10 hole.
It also made Detroit one dimensional, leaving the vaunted rushing duo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery to amass only 21 carries for 89 yards.
Montgomery did add two catches for 37 yards on the Lions' lone scoring drive of the second half.
TOUCHDOWN THAT WASN’T
The refs saved Kansas City’s defense four points on a nearly 10-minute opening drive by Detroit.
David Montgomery threw a 1-yard touchdown to Jared Goff — nope, that’s not a misprint — on fourth-and-goal.
Amon-Ra St. Brown locked up Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie on the perimeter, and Goff ran into his wide receiver’s back before bouncing outside and into the end zone.
With the Lions’ special teams unit on the field, game officials engaged in a lengthy huddle before calling an illegal-shift penalty.
There are extra rules for a quarterback who goes in motion before the snap after lining up directly behind the center, according to Rule 7, Section 4, Article 7.
Referee Craig Wrolstad explained that the more than one-minute delay was because of the moving pieces involved in the play.
It was his responsibility to confirm that Goff lined up as the quarterback at the line of scrimmage, but other officials had to confirm what Goff did after motioning to the left.
"We had to communicate between (the down judge), my umpire and my line judge whether or not (Goff) initially stopped at the quarterback position and then whether he stopped after he went in motion out of my view toward the left-hand side of the field," Wrolstad said after the game. "There was a little bit of confusion in our discussion whether he had stopped initially or whether he had stopped at the end and what we were talking about. That's why the flag came in so late."
When Goff walked up under center, he "assumed a T-quarterback position." He wouldn't have been flagged if he'd run the play from the shotgun formation.
After the powwow, Detroit was hit with a 5-yard penalty, which was compounded by a delay-of-game penalty that pushed Goff and company back another 5 yards.
That prompted the Lions to send out Jake Bates for a 28-yard field goal, which capped a 15-play drive that traveled 61 yards in 9:39.
“That was very big to hold him to three,” Conner said.
The penalty saved Kansas City some points, but it also erased an admittedly cool touchdown.
FOURTH-DOWN DECISIONS
Lions coach Dan Campbell has never met a fourth down he didn’t want to go for, so Reid responded in kind.
Reid rolled the dice beginning on Kansas City’s first drive.
“If you talk to the stats guys, they’re going to tell you to go for about every fourth down, but Fraze (Statistical Analysis Coordinator Mike Frazier) does a nice job of keeping it within reason," Reid said.
Facing fourth-and-3 at the Detroit 6-yard line, he eschewed a short field goal — a very wise decision for multiple reasons, it turned out — to go for it, dialing up a drag route to the outside for Xavier Worthy for a touchdown.
“I thought it was the right thing to do, especially when you’re playing a team that scores a lot of points,” Reid said.
However, the Chiefs only led 6-3 because Harrison Butker missed the extra point. It’s his sixth missed kick in six games this season.
The only game in which Butker hasn’t missed a kick in 2025, he booted a kickoff out of bounds in the closing minutes Monday night to give Jacksonville prime field position for the game-winning touchdown drive six days ago.
Kansas City converted another fourth down on its second drive before it ended with a turnover on downs.
Kareem Hunt converted a fourth-and-1 near midfield, but running back Isiah Pacheco drew too much attention in the flats on another fourth-and-short five plays later.
Moving to his second read, safety Thomas Harper broke up Patrick Mahomes’ pass to Worthy inside the 10, but Detroit repaid the favor on its ensuing drive.
Goff fired a deep slant to St. Brown on the eighth play of the drive, but he couldn’t complete the catch, and the Chiefs answered with the go-ahead touchdown drive.
Mahomes powered in on a 1-yard option with 37 seconds left before halftime, restoring Kansas City’s lead.
STAR POWER RETURNS TO KC
Taylor Swift enjoyed the game from a suite with Caitlin Clark and her fiancé’s dad, Ed Kelce.
Clark, an Iowa native, is a lifelong Chiefs fan, while Swift converted after she started dating Travis Kelce more than two years ago.
The couple got engaged shortly before the season started.
Kansas City is 20-5 when Swift, whose album “The Life of a Showgirl” was released Oct. 3, is on hand during the last three seasons.
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