The Kansas City Chiefs edged out the Detroit Lions in Week 6, but postgame headlines focused on a scuffle, not the score. Lions safety Brian Branch struck Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster in the head after the final whistle. The NFL issued a punishment, but Branch is contesting it.

The league didn’t waste time handing out punishment, issuing the 23-year-old a one-game suspension that will cost him $76,624, according to Spotrac and Ian Rapoport. Now, Branch plans to appeal the decision.

It’s hard to imagine the league showing Brian Branch any leniency after what went down Sunday night. Following the Lions’ 30-17 loss to the Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes extended a hand to Branch for the usual postgame gesture. Instead of reciprocating, Branch walked right past him.

That didn’t sit well with JuJu Smith-Schuster, who stepped in to say something, and that’s when Branch completely lost his cool, taking a swing at Smith-Schuster’s facemask and knocking him to the ground. Within seconds, both sidelines flooded the field, and a full-blown brawl broke out.

“Your aggressive, non-football act was entirely unwarranted, posed a serious risk of injury, and clearly violated the standards of conduct and sportsmanship expected of NFL players,” NFL football operations’ vice president, Jon Runyan, wrote to the Detroit Lions.

Even if head coach Dan Campbell were somehow sitting in Runyan’s chair, he wouldn’t be defending his player either. Campbell made that crystal clear after the game.

“I love Brian Branch,” Campbell said, adding, “But what he did is inexcusable. And it’s not gonna be accepted here. It’s not what we do, it’s not what we’re about. And I apologize to Coach Reid, the Chiefs, and Schuster. That’s not okay. And it’s not gonna be okay, he knows it, our team knows it.”

The coach wasn’t just upset about the act itself. He was furious because Branch’s decision made an already bad situation worse. The Lions’ secondary has been decimated by injuries lately, and now they’re losing another key piece heading into Week 7 against Tampa Bay.

What losing Brian Branch means ahead of week 7

Detroit’s defensive backfield has been hanging on by a thread. Terrion Arnold, D.J. Reed, and Khalil Dorsey are all sidelined with multi-week injuries. Reed and Dorsey are already on injured reserve, and Campbell said last week that Arnold could be out “for a while.”

There was a brief glimmer of hope when Adam Schefter reported that a second opinion on Arnold’s shoulder showed less damage than expected. But even then, an early return in Week 7 would be a long shot. If it does happen, however, it would just mean rushing him onto the field too soon.

So now, heading into a primetime matchup, the Lions are looking at a patchwork secondary trying to hold off one of the hottest quarterbacks in the league. That’s where Campbell’s frustration really comes from. This wasn’t some heat-of-the-moment penalty during a play. It was something completely avoidable, something that left his already thin defense even more vulnerable.

And the timing couldn’t be worse. Baker Mayfield is in the middle of a career year, sitting at 1,539 passing yards, 12 touchdowns, and just one interception with a 108.5 passer rating. He’s been carving up defenses every week. Facing him with half your secondary on the sideline? That’s a nightmare.

Unless the Lions’ offense, led by Jared Goff, can find a way to light up the scoreboard, this could turn into a shootout real quick. And while Detroit’s offense has been solid, outscoring one of the league’s best units is a tall order.