Chiefs Need Their Other Superstars Back, but Lions Proving to Be More Than Just Hype

Lions QB Jared GoffAP Photo/Ed Zurga

The first game of the Kansas City Chiefs' latest title defense didn't go as they would have liked. For the upstart Detroit Lions, things couldn't have gone much better.

Dan Campbell's squad marched into Kansas City, made clutch plays on both sides of the ball and ended the game with a crucial first down to secure a 21-20 victory.

It's impossible to discount the fact that Kansas City was without its two biggest stars not named Patrick Mahomes.

Star tight end Travis Kelce, who suffered a knee injury during practice early in the week, was on the sideline. Star defensive tackle Chris Jones was in the stands instead of on the field as he continues to hold out for a new contract.

Despite Jones' absence, the Chiefs defense played a respectable game. Detroit's offense racked up 368 yards but put only 14 points on the board.

Kelce's absence proved to be much more glaring. When Kansas City needed a big play in the big moments, Mahomes couldn't find a dependable go-to target. Repeated drops, including one by Kadarius Toney that led to Brian Branch's pick-six, will haunt the Chiefs during their long layoff before Week 2.

Mahomes did his part, frequently buying time in the pocket or picking up yards on the ground. But he simply never found a pass-catcher he could trust.

This would likely have been a different game with Kelce in the lineup. One or two game-changing plays from Jones might have yielded a different outcome too. With a tough road game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on deck, Kansas City needs to get both back into the lineup.

The Chiefs had never lost a season opener with Mahomes under center, but it's not time to panic just yet. Young players like cornerback Trent McDuffie, linebacker Nick Bolton, pass-rusher George Karlaftis and rookie receiver Rashee Rice made their presence felt.

There's time for this team to come together, and presumably, Kelce and Jones will both be back in the coming weeks. Per usual, Kansas City will be in the thick of the Super Bowl hunt in the winter.

The Lions might be too. While the pair of missing Kansas City superstars has to be noted, the Chiefs at home on banner night provide a heck of a measuring stick.

Dan Campbell's unit showed that it measures up.

Detroit didn't just pick up where it left off in 2022—a team that leaned heavily into its offense to win eight of its final 10 games. It had a complete performance with strong contributions from new additions like Branch, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, David Montgomery, Jahmyr Gibbs and Jack Campbell.

The Lions got it started with a gutsy call from Campbell to run a fake punt deep in Detroit territory:

The Lions went on to score a touchdown on the drive and show that they were ready to hang with the Chiefs under the brightest of spotlights.

We did see some of what we saw last year from Detroit. Amon-Ra St. Brown (6 catches, 71 yards, 1 TD) and Josh Reynolds (4 catches, 80 yards) had some huge plays. Jared Goff (253 yards, 1 TD) had some clutch precision throws.

We also saw Montgomery and Gibbs bully the Chiefs on the ground, control the tempo and set up play-action. That new-look defense, led by Aidan Hutchinson, Gardner-Johnson, Branch and Campbell, did solid work and took full advantage of Kansas City's offensive miscues.

Kelce or no Kelce, holding a Mahomes-led offense to 20 points and a 33 percent conversion rate on third and fourth down is impressive.

This isn't the same Detroit team that was squeaking through shootouts a year ago, and from here, the Lions are only going to grow into a more complete football team.

The rookie Gibbs (7 carries, 2 receptions) will see an expanded role in the game plan. Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson will get more creative as he learns what his lineup is capable of doing. Players like Campbell, Gardner-Johnson and Cameron Sutton will only grow more comfortable in Aaron Glenn's defense.

The three-year transformation of the Lions is nearly complete. In his inaugural campaign as the head coach, Campbell helped create a motivated gritty team that simply didn't know how to win. Over the second half of last season, the wins started to come.

This year, Detroit has the overall roster talent and the confidence to meet and possibly even exceed their rising expectations.

"We're not scared of the expectations," Lions general manager Brad Holmes said Friday, per ESPN's Eric Woodyard. "The expectations are earned through, I think, what we've built and what we've done up until this point in terms of how we finished the end of the season and through our player acquisition process. But now we've got to just prove them right."

Detroit proved a heck of a lot against the Chiefs on Thursday. Yes, Kansas City was short-handed, but this was a high-pressure game that the 2022 Lions probably don't win.

1-0 is 1-0. Detroit should be the clear favorite in the NFC North, and it faces the league's 13th-easiest schedule in terms of 2022 winning percentage (.495).

The Lions came into Week 1 as the latest NFL darlings. They're already proving that they're much more than that. They're looking like a legitimate threat to come out of the NFC and make a push to Super Bowl LVIII.