One of the best primetime games of the season is upon us. The Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs will clash in Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday night in what should be one of the most entertaining games of the entire season.

Can the Chiefs avoid falling to 2-4? Will the Lions keep rolling and earn their fifth consecutive win?

Here are some key storylines, players to watch, and bold predictions for Sunday night’s showdown.

Can the Chiefs avoid serious playoff trouble?

The Chiefs are sitting at 2-3 through the first five weeks of the season, and right now, they’re in a bit of trouble. If they lose this game to the Lions, they’ll be two games under .500 and will have some serious questions about how they can turn their season around.

The weirdest part is, the Chiefs aren’t playing bad football. Offensively, they’ve looked pretty good, even without Rashee Rice, and defensively, they haven’t been as great as they’ve been in the past, but they’ve been good enough.

Luckily for Kansas City, its schedule lightens up a bit after this week. But still, teams that start 2-4 make the playoffs less than 10 percent of the time, so if they want to have no doubts, a win on Sunday would go a long way.

Can anyone stop the Lions’ offense?

The Lions don’t seem to be missing Ben Johnson too much. After a lackluster Week 1 performance, the Lions’ offense has been on a roll, scoring 30+ in each of their last four games. Jared Goff is playing at an MVP level right now, and he’s got weapons all around him that can make plays.

In Week 4, the Lions played the Cleveland Browns, who have one of, if not the best, defenses in the NFL, and they hung 34 on them easily. No defense has proven they can contain this Lions offense, and I’m not sure Kansas City’s will either. They’re good, but they’ve seemingly regressed this year, so if they can’t get a few stops early on and let Goff and Co. get hot, good luck, Chiefs.

Will Tyquan Thornton cement his place in this offense?

Rashee Rice is returning from suspension next game, which will just make the Chiefs’ offense that much more dangerous. The big question is, who is going to get the demotion from starter to bench player when he returns?

I think it’s safe to say it’s not going to be Xavier Worthy. He has a skillset nobody else on the team does with his 4.21 speed, so he should be safe.

So, will it be Tyquan Thornton or Hollywood Brown? Let’s look at the stats.

As you can see, Thornton has been much more efficient than Brown this year, but Brown has received a heavier workload. In recent weeks, Thornton has seen his production ramp up, while Browns’ has dropped off slightly. I think Thornton has a big week this week and cements himself as the Chiefs’ WR3 behind Rice and Worthy.

Can the Lions stop Mahomes from scrambling?

I think a big part of this game that nobody is really talking about is Patrick Mahomes‘ ability to scramble. He’s seemingly doing it more than ever this year, and just last week, we saw him make big plays with his legs time and time again. So, will the Lions be able to stop it?

There’s no worse feeling in football than getting your opponent to third down, your pass rush nearly getting home, and then the quarterback escapes and runs for a first down, and yet, it happens all the time. Mahomes ran it 28 times for 190 yards and three touchdowns this season, but he’s also picked up 14 first downs. Every other time he runs, he moves the sticks, and if the Lions want to get the Chiefs off the field, they can’t let him run around all willy-nilly.

This is going to be a close game, and I predict that Mahomes’ legs will play a big part in this game late. I can already see the Chiefs driving downfield, trailing by three with under a minute to go. It’s fourth down, he drops back, nobody is open, and he escapes the pocket, picks up a big first down, and the Chiefs go on to send it to OT or win it.

Key Players

• Aidan Hutchinson (DE, Detroit Lions)

Aidan Hutchinson is back from his gruesome leg injury, and it’s like he never left. Through five games, Hutchinson has recorded 31 pressures and five sacks, and he should be a big factor in this game.

We just talked about how dangerous Mahomes can be with his legs, so while Hutchinson obviously wants to get him on the ground, it’s just as important to contain him in the pocket. He can’t over-commit to his pass rush. If he gets too deep, it’s going to open up a hole for Mahomes to run through, and he’s going to take it every time.

Will Hutchinson be able to contain and put pressure on Mahomes? Or can the Chiefs’ offensive line neutralize him and make him a non-factor? We’ll see, but whoever wins that matchup will help their team out tremendously.

• Travis Kelce (TE, Kansas City Chiefs)

It may be a boring pick, but I expect Travis Kelce to be one of the most influential players in Sunday night’s game.

Is Kelce the same tight end he was 4-5 years ago? No, but no matter how “poor” he’s performing, he always comes through in big games. He and Mahomes have one of the best QB-TE connections I’ve ever seen, and when a play breaks down – and it’s going to break down with this Lions pass rush – he’s going to be the guy Mahomes looks to.

Just as I can envision a Mahomes scramble late in the game, I can also envision a busted play where Mahomes rolls out and finds a wide-open Kelce just roaming the field looking for space. He just has a knack for getting open in big moments, so make sure you keep your eye on him if this game is close late.

• Trent McDuffie (CB, Kansas City Chiefs)

Amon-Ra St. Brown has been one of the best receivers in football this season. He’s logged 35 catches, 407 yards, and six touchdowns through the first five games, and it’s going to be Trent McDuffie’s job to stop him on Sunday night.

McDuffie has enjoyed a very strong start to the 2025 season. Through five weeks, he’s given up 23.8 yards per game and one touchdown while picking off one pass and breaking up four more. He’s also allowing a 53.8 percent completion percentage, which is the lowest on the team.

This should be one of the most entertaining matchups to watch in this game. One of the best receivers in the league vs one of the best corners in the league. Offense tends to win out nowadays, but if McDuffie can ever so slightly slow St. Brown down, it will really help the Chiefs’ defense.

Bold Predictions

Chiefs hold Amon-Ra St. Brown to under 50 receiving yards

We just talked about St. Brown’s matchup with McDuffie, so let’s start there. St. Brown has been virtually unstoppable this season, but I’m not sure he’s faced a corner as good as McDuffie this season.

I believe Steve Spagnuolo will do everything in his power to take St. Brown out of the game. He’s going to put McDuffie on him more often than not, but I also think he’s going to give him some help with a safety over the top. Spags is going to want to make anybody else beat him in the pass game, so I wouldn’t be surprised if St. Brown has an off night.

Patrick Mahomes rushes for 70+ yards

Another bold prediction that I already foreshadowed was Patrick Mahomes’ legs. I told you I think they’ll play a big factor in this game, so I’m going to stand on that and predict Mahomes to set a new career-high with 70+ rushing yards.

Mahomes’ current career-high for rushing yards in a game is 69. With the Chiefs’ rushing game struggling this year, he’s had to do it himself more than ever, and he loves to do it when the lights are shining the brightest. This game is going to be a shootout, and if the Chiefs want to keep up, they can’t just drop back and throw it 50+ times. They need some semblance of a run game, and so far, Mahomes is the only one who’s delivered that for them.

Look for Mahomes to use his legs often, specifically on third and fourth downs and in the red zone. He’s running more than ever this year, and if things aren’t open on the back end, expect him not to hesitate to take off and run.

David Montgomery leads the Lions in touches

This sort of connects with what I was saying about St. Brown. I think Spagnuolo is going to do everything he can to limit Jahmyr Gibbs’ effectiveness, so David Montgomery should be the main beneficiary of that.

Gibbs and Montgomery see a similar amount of carries (70-61 in favor of Gibbs this year), and he just out-carried Gibbs 18-12 last game. If the Chiefs can limit Gibbs’ touches through the air, which I think they’ll try very hard to do, we could see Montgomery get the majority of the work in the run game, especially if he gets hot early, punching it up the middle.