Kansas City Chiefs Prove Their Dynasty Isn’t Over with Key Win Over Detroit

Exaggerations of the Kansas City Chiefs’ demise may have been greatly exaggerated.

While it was certainly stunning to see Kansas City lose more games in the first five weeks this season than it did all of last year’s regular season, the Chiefs were never as bad as their 2-3 record five games into the season indicated.

They proved that Sunday night with a 30-17 win over the scorching hot Detroit Lions.

“(This win) showed what we can do,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said in his postgame TV interview. “We’ve been getting better and better each and every week, the results haven’t been paying off. It’s good to get one here at home.”

Going up against a Detroit team that had scored 161 points over its last four games and was leading the league in scoring offense (34.8 points per game) by over two points, the Chiefs largely stifled the Lions’ offense.

While Detroit’s physical offensive line imposed its will early in the game, especially on a game-opening drive that lasted nearly 10 minutes, Kansas City’s defense allowed just one touchdown and 112 yards on four second-half possessions.

Kansas City managed just one sack, but was otherwise playing sound defense at a high level, swarming to the ball, winning at the point of attack against the run and tackling at a consistent rate.

Offensively, Mahomes was, well, Mahomes-esque, completing 22 of 30 passes for 257 yards and three touchdown passes. After he had just three TD passes in the first three games, Mahomes has thrown eight touchdowns in the last three.

Travis Kelce finished with a season- and team-high 78 receiving yards. Maybe he was buoyed by fiance Taylor Swift’s first in-person attendance at a game this season? Or maybe he’s just rounding into form as the middle third of the season begins.

Hollywood Brown looked like the receiver the Chiefs hoped they would be getting when they traded for him ahead of the 2024 season. His two TDs in the win over the Lions were more than the one score he had in his first 10 games with Kansas City combined.

The reality is that the Chiefs’ inconceivable, record-breaking run of 17 straight wins in one-score games created an aura of invincibility around the perception of the team. They won an NFL-record 11 one-score games last season and lost none.

Absurd. And also unsustainable, even for a team as talented and loaded with accomplishments as Kansas City has been of late.

That armor finally broke this season. Six games into the season, the Chiefs are 0-3 in one-score games by a combined margin of 12 points. They’re 3-0 in games decided by more than one score, winning them by a combined 43 points.

It remains to be seen if this Kansas City team can keep Mahomes’ ridiculous streak of seven AFC Championship Game appearances in as many seasons as a starter alive.

But the Chiefs showed Sunday that anyone thinking their dynasty is over may have to wait at least a little longer.