By Dave Skretta
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — 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’ first pick in an opener 50 yards for another touchdown, helping Detroit snap the Chiefs’ eight-game Week 1 winning streak.
“We expected to win this game,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “We came in here, knew what we needed to do, knew it wasn’t going to be easy, and we did that. We won.”
It wasn’t over until the final minutes, though.
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 ran for a first down that allowed the Lions to run out the clock.
“I didn’t learn anything. I got verification on what I already know: This is a resilient team,” Campbell said. “We’re built to handle some stuff and we did that today against a very good opponent.”
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.
Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery (5) runs with the ball during the first half of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
“Got to be better,” Mahomes said.
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 Thursday, 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.
Detroit scored first in a showdown of two of the league’s top offenses a year ago. Goff took advantage of a clean pocket, thanks in part to Jones sitting in a stadium suite, to march down field and find St. Brown with a 9-yard touchdown pass.
The Chiefs answered with Mahomes finding five different wide receivers, the last of them rookie Rashee Rice, who atoned for an earlier drop by snaring a short touchdown pass to knot the game at 7-apiece.
It remained that way until Campbell made a questionable decision late in the half.
Kansas City Chiefs RB Isiah Pacheco #10 trying to evade Detroit Lions DE Josh Paschal, Sept. 7. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)
The Chiefs were facing fourth-and-2 near midfield but had been called for holding, and rather than decline it, Campbell chose to push them back. Mahomes responded to third-and-17 by hitting Marquez Valdes-Scantling with a 24-yard strike. He added a 26-yard pass to Justin Watson, then hit Blake Bell with a short TD throw to give the Chiefs a 14-7 halftime lead.
With the Lions’ offense going nowhere, the defense stepped up. Branch caught a pass that bounced off Toney’s hands — he had several drops in the game — and found nothing but 50 yards of grass separating him from the end zone and a 14-all tie.
Up to that point, Mahomes had thrown 20 touchdown passes and no interceptions in five-plus season openers.
The Chiefs tacked on two field goals, but the missed chances to get into the end zone proved costly. The Lions followed up Harrison Butker’s second field goal by driving 75 yards, twice converting on third down, with Montgomery capping the march with a 9-yard touchdown run to give Detroit the the lead for good.
“The Lions did a heck of a job. They capitalized on a couple of things and we’ve got to fix it,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “I liked the aggressiveness on the defensive side. There were some good things on offense. We just have to be more consistent.”
STREAK ENDS
The Lions’ Marvin Jones fumbled away a good scoring chance in the second quarter, when Trent McDuffie knocked the ball out deep in Kansas City territory. It was the veteran wide receiver’s first fumble in his 12-year career and came on his 563rd touch, the longest active streak in the NFL.
LATEST ON KELCE
Kelce had a bone bruise and some swelling in his knee, though tests taken after the injury in practice showed no ligament damage. He went through a workout early Thursday to see whether he could move well enough to play, but Reid and Chiefs trainer Rick Burkholder decided to give Kelce time to recover with their next game 10 days away.
INJURIES
Lions: Branch, the first player with a pick-6 in his Lions debut since 1967, departed with cramps on the final play of the third quarter. … DT Levi Onwuzurike limped off with trainers with about 12 minutes left in the game.
UP NEXT
Lions: Play their home opener on Sept. 17 against Seattle.
Chiefs: Visit Jacksonville on Sept. 17 for a divisional playoff rematch.