Hear ’em roar: Lions stun Chiefs in opener
Lions 21 Chiefs 20
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jared Goff threw for 253 yards and a touchdown, new Lions running back David Montgomery ran for the go-ahead score with 5:05 remaining in the game, and Detroit held on for a sloppy, 21-20, victory over the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL’s season opener Thursday night.
Amon-Ra St. Brown had six catches for 71 yards and a score, and Lions rookie Brian Branch returned Patrick Mahomes’s first pick in an opener 50 yards for another touchdown, helping Detroit snap the Chiefs’ eight-game Week 1 winning streak. Up to that point, Mahomes had thrown 20 touchdown passes and no interceptions in six season openers.
The Lions were trying to run out the clock when Goff had a fourth-down pass near midfield batted down with 2:30 left, giving the Chiefs a chance.
But they made a mess of it: Kadarius Toney dropped a potential 20-yard gain, a deep completion was called back for holding, Skyy Moore dropped a pass, and a false start left Mahomes heaving a fourth-and-25 throw downfield.
When it fell incomplete and Detroit took over, Montgomery, an offseason free agent signing, ran for a first down that allowed the Lions to run out the clock.
Mahomes finished with 226 yards passing and two touchdowns, despite his receivers dropping a slew of passes. He also was the leading rusher for the Chiefs, whose self-inflicted wounds proved too much to overcome.
There had been equal parts anticipation and anxiety leading up to the game in Kansas City, where the Chiefs celebrated their previous Lombardi Trophy in the midst of a pandemic, and only about 18,000 fans were able to join in the revelry.
Hundreds began tailgating outside the Arrowhead Stadium parking lot, waiting for the gates to open 14 hours prior to kickoff, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell joined several celebrities to see the Chiefs raise a championship banner.
That was the anticipation. The anxiety came from the absence of Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and fellow All-Pro Chris Jones, who is in the midst of a contract holdout.
The defensive tackle was expected to miss the opener, but Kelce had only been questionable since Tuesday, when he hyperextended his knee in the final full practice before game day.
The 33-year-old Kelce, who avoided any ligament damage, had not missed a game to injury since his rookie season in 2013, when he missed all but one to have a microfracture procedure to repair a cartilage problem in his knee.
Kelce has twice been held out of meaningless games to end the regular season and missed a game in December 2021 after testing positive to COVID-19.