Kansas City Chiefs escape Detroit with close win over Lions
By Rylan Stiles
The Kansas City Chiefs escaped a road to Detroit with a very narrow win over the Lions to remain undefeated through four weeks.
Leading up to the Kansas City Chiefs fourth game on the road against the Detroit Lions, fans were excited to see Patrick Mahomes and the team’s explosive offense inside of a dome for the first time. However, that excitement would be restrained as early as the first quarter after the Chiefs fell behind quickly in what became the toughest game to date on the schedule, resulting in a narrow, last-second victory.
In the first frame, the Kansas City Chiefs defense played as if they weren’t there. Matthew Stafford was questionable before the game with a hip injury, but he was able to carve through the Chiefs defense like a hot knife through butter as the Lions jumped out to an early 10-0 lead at the end of the first. Sound familiar?
The Chiefs offense did not look in sync throughout the entire first half as Mahomes overthrew receivers while other pass catchers were running the wrong routes. Mahomes finished the half 11-for-20 for 160 yards with 0 touchdowns. Chiefs running back LeSean McCoy is the only reason this game was tied heading into the break, as he ran for 51 first half yards including a touchdown despite nursing an ankle injury all week long.
Fortunately the Chiefs defense helped pick up the slack. Defensive tackle Chris Jones was absolutely sensational on Sunday with a first-half sack and another lost on a holding penalty. The Mississippi State product was also a force in the run game.
To start the second half, the Lions pulled off a pooch kick that resulted in Mecole Hardman fumbling the football away. After the fumble, the Lions drove right down the field only to see Stafford fumble the football at the five-yard line to give the Chiefs the ball right back.
After the Chiefs fumbled a Patrick Mahomes run-pass option, the Lions returned the favor at the goal line only it was returned 99 yards for a touchdown by Bashaud Breeland. That capped off four straight drives that ended with a fumble and gave the Chiefs their first lead of the day, 20-13.
After a field goal by the Lions, they immediately recovered a Sammy Watkins fumble, after which Stafford led the Lions right down the field to regain the lead on an 8 play, 45-yard drive that ended in a Kenny Golladay touchdown. That put Detroit back up by 3 points just before the fourth quarter. From there, a one yard power run by Darrel Williams capped off a 9 play 75-yard touchdown drive to push the Chiefs ahead 27-23.
Like riding a seesaw, this game was back and forth all day long. Chiefs fans just holding their breath and hoping Kansas City could escape with a win to continue their perfect season.
The fourth lead change in the second half came at the 2:26 mark when Stafford threw a dart to Kenny Golladay to put the Lions up 30-27. The Chiefs took over after the Lions score and got into field goal range with just over a minute left in the game. From there, the Chiefs had a second and goal from the three with 20 seconds remaining, and Williams punched it in for his second touchdown of the day, giving the Chiefs a four point lead.
The Chiefs improve to 4-0, despite Mahomes not hurling a touchdown pass in this contest. Credit to Justin Coleman and the rest of the Lions defense.
Final score: 34-30, Chiefs.