So much for the demise of the Kansas City Chiefs. Things may have been ugly to start the 2025 NFL season for the reigning AFC champions, who lost their first two games for the first time in the Patrick Mahomes era. But neither Mahomes nor the Chiefs looked to be in much trouble on Sunday night, claiming a decisive 30-17 victory over the vaunted Detroit Lions in prime time.
A week after suffering a Monday night loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Chiefs returned to form in Week 6 thanks in large part due to a pristine performance from Mahomes. With Jaylon Moore protecting his blind side in place of rookie left tackle Josh Simmons, who missed Sunday’s game due to personal reasons, Mahomes had four total touchdowns — three passing and one rushing — while remaining a dual threat for Andy Reid’s offense. Not only did he scamper around for 34 yards on the ground, but the three-time Super Bowl champion also made the best of his mostly healthy receiving corps, spreading the ball to eight different players.
Travis Kelce led the group with six catches for 78 yards, but plenty of speedier options, like Xavier Worthy and Marquise Brown, also got involved; the latter two combined to haul in three scores against a Lions secondary missing starting cornerback Terrion Arnold. Detroit’s secondary was also briefly without ball-hawking safety Kerby Joseph, who battled injuries throughout the contest.
Jared Goff and the Lions offense, meanwhile, enjoyed some early methodical scoring series but never led after halftime. A couple of failed fourth-down attempts contributed to Motor City’s offensive woes.
Here are some big-picture takeaways from the Chiefs’ win, which improved K.C. to 3-3 on the season:
Play of the game
It didn’t lift the Lions to victory, but tight end Sam LaPorta’s improbable leaping grab at the back of the end zone was easily the most acrobatic play of the night. If only, for Detroit’s sake, it had been surrounded by a steadier overall offense.
The Chiefs are on their way back
It wasn’t an overstatement to call Kansas City sloppy and sluggish to start the season. Even Patrick Mahomes, for all his desperate efforts to get something going as a scrambler, wasn’t his sharp self out of the gate, trying but failing to establish the deep ball through the air. Sunday felt different. Things weren’t perfect. Mahomes still had to carry the rushing attack early, putting his own body at risk of contact. By the buzzer, however, he’d spread the rock all over the field, putting basically all of Andy Reid’s gadgets to use. Four scores and six red zone trips? Those are the Chiefs we’re used to. It’s probably going a bit far to suggest they’re all the way back to Super Bowl form, but it’s also October. And 3-3 all of a sudden feels like a launching pad for their next AFC push.
Detroit needs to get disciplined
It’s a little too easy to declare this after what occurred after the final whistle, with star safety Brian Branch delivering a blow to the helmet of Chiefs wideout JuJu Smith-Schuster in the start of a brief but physical postgame fight. (Branch is sure to face NFL discipline of some kind.) But it goes beyond the extracurriculars: The Lions weren’t overly messy Sunday, but their four penalties to the Chiefs’ none weren’t nothing. Especially when one of those infractions negated a would-be opening-series touchdown on a trick pass by David Montgomery. Coach Dan Campbell is always aggressive, but he has to make sure his unit is sound, too. That’s doubly the case when you’re up against a stingy front, on the road, and missing key starters like Terrion Arnold.
Both of these contenders should be fine in the long run
The score says the Chiefs showed up and the Lions laid an egg, but at the end of the day, this matchup might still work as a Super Bowl LX preview. That should be encouraging — and feasible — news for fans of both sides. To reiterate the first point, the Chiefs really appear to be back in business, especially when you consider Rashee Rice will serve as an additional reinforcement upon his return. And the Lions? This was a significant defeat in that it showed Detroit’s track speed can still be outmuscled. But few teams still match the Lions’ top-to-bottom talent, and one of the club’s philosophical missteps here — prioritizing balanced and methodical drives even at the expense of the clock — can be corrected. The playmakers are still present for a deep run.
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