Chiefs Lose Opener By One: 21-to-20

Laddie Morse

The Kansas City Chiefs lost to the Detroit Lions in their NFL opener by a score of 21-to-20. The game began with even less confidence than was necessary when the defense got a 3-and-out then the offense was pushed off the field with a 6-and-out. When the Lions got the ball back they ran a fake 4^th-and-2 Punt, which ended up in a first down after the Chiefs had forced them into a possible 3-and-out (0:07).

.

.

The result was a TD for the Lions as they drove down the field and scored on a Jared Goff Pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown (0:13).

Lions 7, Chiefs 0.

.

.

When K.C. got the ball after the Lions scored their TD, they went on a 13 play drive to score a TD, a 1-yard pass from Patrick Mahomes to rookie Rashee Rice. I was gald that Rice made it his TD as he had dropped two passes earlier in the game. HC Andy reid addressed Rice’s drops after the game:

.

“Yeah, he’s got a lot of talent. He’s just got to hang onto the ball.” Reid said, “I mean, he’s got good hands; he’s just got to focus on it, squeeze it, and catch it first, then you can do your thing after that. So, he’ll be alright; he’s just got to keep working through it.”

.

Chiefs 7, Lions 7.

On the next drive for the Lions, they made it all the way to the Chiefs 14 yards line then a pass from Goff to Marvin Jones Jr. was fumbled and the Chiefs Bryan Cook recovered. The Chiefs and Lions exchanged 3-and-outs then K.C. went on 6 play TD drive with Rashee Rice scoring the TD.

Chiefs 14, Lions 7.

.

.

The Chiefs won the coin toss at the beginning of the game so they had the ball first to open the second half. It didn’t matter much because they went 6-and-out, in other words, K.C. gained one first down. Next the Chiefs Defense did an excellent job again forced a 3-and-out. However, when the Chiefs got the ball back their third play was a Mahomes pass that bounced off of Kadarius Toney’s hands and right into the arms of Lions rookie Brian Branch who returned it 50 yards for a TD (0:20).

Lion 14, Chiefs 14.

.

.

The Chiefs and Lions traded Punts then the Chiefs went 8 plays for a Field Goal by Harrison Butker.

Chiefs 17, Lions 14.

Next, the Chiefs defense held the Lions on and forced them to Punt. K.C. then went on an 8 play drive but it also ended in a Field Goal.

Chiefs 20, Lions 14.

The Lions then went on a 9 play drive which resulted in a TD.

Lion 21, Chiefs 20.

The Chiefs couldn’t do anything with the ball after that and the Lions ended by gettign a first down while K.C. used up their time outs.

Lions 21, Chiefs 20. Final.

.

Impressions

With no Travis Kelce, and no Chris Jones, their absences were obvious all game long. Mike Danna had one sack and Blake Bell had 2 receptions for 12 yards and one TD. The point is, their replacement were not nearly up to par. In fact, the Chiefs had many key drops among their pass catchers. WR Kadarius Toney had a drop near to the end of the game which was a drive killer (0:07):

.

.

Field Goals

I’m not a fan of field goals. Choosing to kick them instead of taking a chance to score a TD can get you into loads of rouble like the Chiefs ran into here. Even if K.C. was successful on 50% of their tries they’d have ended up with one more point and possibly tied the game instead of losing by one point. Oh well… there’s an old saying… “Better an Oops, Than a What If?” To me, the Chiefs chose the What If?.

Leadership and Trust

Patrick Mahomes could be seen holding his head (helmet) in his hands more than once during this game and that tells you enough about the significance of the dropped passes. I’m afraid the Chiefs have caused some lack of trust on Mahomes part, because of those drops. That trust will have to be repaired before this team can accomplish anything.

The 0-and-1 Chiefs.

I never expected this to happen. One of our readers will be very happy with this outcome as he predicted it. I did not. I didn’t see this coming at all. The Chiefs are better than this outcome. Hopefully our Pro Bowlers come back soon. TE Travis Kelce needs to heal fast and DT Chris Jones needs to get a deal done, asap. Then I want to see what this team is capable of accomplishing.

.

Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

.