KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It was almost too easy.
The Kansas City Chiefs had a look they liked at the Detroit Lions’ 3-yard line just minutes into the third quarter. Wide receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Hollywood Brown flanked tight end Travis Kelce in a bunch formation to the left. Another wideout, Xavier Worthy, stood on an island out to the right, and running back Isiah Pacheco was prepared to leak out of the backfield behind the triplets should quarterback Patrick Mahomes need him as a safety valve.
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But it never came to that.
At the snap of the ball, Smith-Schuster curled into the back of the end zone, taking one Lions defender with him. Kelce ran a deep slant towards the back right corner of the end zone, taking two defenders with him. Mahomes’ primary target — Brown — streaked across the front of the end zone wider than wide-open, reeled in the pass, turned and landed on paydirt.
The play gave hosting Kansas City a 10-point lead to open the second half, and that surgical drive propelled the Chiefs to a 30-17 victory over one of the best teams in football while also improving their record to 3-3.
As far as statement wins go, this was just about as good as they come. After a slow start that saw the usual gold standard of the NFL tripped up by injuries, uncharacteristic self-inflicted wounds and concerning, disjointed performances, the Chiefs have their swagger back.
After a season-opening stretch in which every yard and point felt hard to come by, the razzle-dazzle returned for the former champs on Sunday. The dizzying misdirection, a cast of speedy pass-catching options, a resurgent Kelce, and a defense with a restored freshness and difference-making capabilities.
This was the type of performance ascribed to the Chiefs for the better part of the last decade, but also a brand of football that outsiders feared this iteration of the Chiefs was incapable of producing.
But there they were again, lighting up the scoreboard with apparent ease, making a usually explosive opponent look rather average. Kansas City so thoroughly frustrated its guests that as the game ended, Lions safety Brian Branch first refused to shake Mahomes’ hand after the game and then smacked Smith-Schuster, sparking a melee.
Two-thirds of the season remains and the Chiefs view themselves as in position to achieve all of the goals they set entering the season.
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“I think we’ve been improving each week,” center Creed Humphrey said, “and we knew these early games, it was all about execution. You know, we were kind of shooting ourselves in the foot, not making plays when we needed to. So I think we had a good week of practice, and we’ve kept building off these past few weeks, and everything was just rolling today, and it was good to see.”
Despite all of the uncharacteristic gaffes and struggles, Humphrey said that at no point did the Chiefs panic. Not after the 0-2 start, marked by losses to AFC West rival Los Angeles Chargers in Week 1 or their Super Bowl nemesis Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2, and not even after last week’s collapse against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“Everything that was happening, you know, it was, it was within our control,” Humphrey explained. “So we knew if we fix our mistakes, this team has a chance to be really good. So now it’s just continuing to improve and continue to be consistent with it. … You can’t worry about the future, you can’t worry about the past. Just worry about your job in that moment and do it play after play. And then if you do that, good things tend to happen.”
Humphrey and the core members of Kansas City’s roster are experienced enough to know better than to let adversity derail them. Despite the rare level of dominance that has seen them win three Super Bowls in the last six seasons and reach the big game twice more during that same span, they have encountered adversity. Heck, the 2023 season saw them stumble into the playoffs after closing out the regular season with a 4-4 record before regrouping to orchestrate a playoff run that ended with them hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. So this season’s early hiccups haven’t sparked despair.
And although they didn’t exactly look like themselves out of the gates this year, the Chiefs had already seen the vision for this season and didn’t let defeats cause them to lose sight of it.
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“We was never worried. I mean, offseason (practices), we had a lot of fun,” Brown recalled. “For us, it was just eliminating mistakes, being where we needed to be. You know, we got a lot of injuries, so just being on the field and getting those reps is very important.”
Despite the early struggles, the Chiefs always saw themselves as close. They now view obstacles like an injury that sidelined Worthy for three games and the season-opening suspension of wide receiver Rashee Rice as blessings in disguise because Kansas City’s coaches and general manager Brett Veach had to plug backups into larger roles. That produced more growth and improved depth, Mahomes said Sunday night.
“Veach and coach (Andy) Reid have brought in a lot of receivers, a lot of weapons, tight ends, running backs that can make plays happen on the field,” Mahomes said. “You could see it in spurts here and there throughout the beginning of the season: guys excelling. And, I mean, obviously you don’t want injuries, but for (Brown) and Tyquan (Thornton) playing in big moments and where they had to really progress even faster than we could expect, kind of like Xavier (Worthy) the year before, and Rashee (Rice) the year before that. And so now that we’re adding (Worthy and Rice) back, they all have the confidence they can win their matchups and know how to work within the offense. And so it makes my job a lot easier when those guys up front are blocking like that and weapons everywhere that I can go to with the football.”
Sunday night also saw the efforts to improve the depth of the offensive line come to fruition as offseason acquisition Jaylon Moore started at left tackle while rookie Josh Simmons missed the game to tend to a personal matter. Moore ensured that Mahomes remained largely unscathed on his blind side.
The NFL is often described as a week-to-week league because circumstances and the balance of power can shift quickly. Sunday’s win over Detroit seemingly signals that the Chiefs have begun rounding into form. Having taken their lumps early, the Chiefs are going to be all right. That should terrify their flawed AFC West foes like the Chargers and Denver Broncos while also renewing pressure on the Buffalo Bills, who have tried in vain to overcome the Chiefs in four of the last five postseasons.
Kansas City’s window is not shutting. Not yet, anyway.
