KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs are not getting off to as good a start as they hoped.
The Chiefs lost their season opener to the Detroit Lions 21-20 without defensive tackle Chris Jones and tight end Travis Kelce.
After a fake punt on their own 17 kept the drive moving, the Lions ended a 14-play, 91-yard drive with a nine-yard TD pass from quarterback Jared Goff to recover Amon-Ra St. Brown near the end of the first quarter.
The Chiefs responded back with their own 13-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Patrick Mahomes finding rookie receiver Rashee Rice in the back of the endzone for a touchdown early in the second quarter.
Rice’s touchdown is the first receiving TD by a rookie since 2021.
With less than two minutes to go, a 34-yard bomb to receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling set up tight end Blake Bell’s second receiving touchdown of his career.
The Chiefs took a 14-7 lead into halftime.
In the second half, a pass to receiver Kadarius Toney was tipped by him and intercepted and taken to the house by Lions rookie safety Brian Branch to tie the game at 14.
The Chiefs were plagued by drops from receivers that led to two field goals and gave them a 20-14 lead in the fourth quarter.
The Lions then took almost five minutes to drive the field and take a 21-20 lead thanks to a David Montgomery rushing TD with 7:06 to go in the game.
On third down in their own territory with six minutes to go, the Chiefs attempted their signature Blake Bell motion into a QB sneak play with a new wrinkle of faking the snap and giving it to Rice on an end around.
The play was stopped in the backfield by the Lions defense.
After a fourth down stop gave the Chiefs the ball back, a holding penalty from left tackle Donovan Smith negated a first down and a false start from right tackle Jawaan Taylor pushed the Chiefs back to 4th and 25 that they failed to convert.
Mahomes threw for 226 yards and two touchdowns and an interception while also being the rushing leader with 45 yards.
Goff ended the night with 253 yards and a touchdown.
The Chiefs get to take the weekend off before hitting the road to face the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, September 17.
