The Detroit Lions rolled into Kansas City riding high on a four-game winning run, but that momentum came to a screeching halt Sunday night. A lot went wrong for Detroit: failed drives, questionable officiating, and an ugly end-of-game brawl. Afterward, head coach Dan Campbell and quarterback Jared Goff didn’t sugarcoat how rough this one was.

Most of the talk after the game wasn’t even about football; it was about the chaos that unfolded once the final whistle blew. Lions safety Brian Branch sparked a full-on scuffle with Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, and Campbell didn’t hesitate to call his player out.

“I love Brian Branch,” Campbell said. “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 apologise to Coach Reid, the Chiefs, and Schuster. That’s not okay. And it’s not gonna he okay, he knows it, our team knows it,” he added.

Well, no coach was going to defend that. At the end of the game, Patrick Mahomes extended his hand toward Branch, but he walked right past him. That didn’t sit well with Smith-Schuster, who tried to step in and offer a handshake himself. Instead of reciprocating, Branch decked him across the face. That led to a full-on brawl.

Branch later admitted he let his emotions get the better of him, and called it a “childish thing,” but that thing could end up costing him and the team if the league decides to come down hard. And for a duct-taped secondary, that’s the last thing they need.

But as bad as the postgame incident looked, Campbell made it clear his frustrations started long before that.

“As far as the game, we didn’t make the plays we needed to make. We were able to do some things good in phases, at times. But not enough for a team like that. We could not complement each other, and we were not able to really make it a game,” Campbell said.

The Lions just couldn’t get it together offensively. They opened strong, scoring on their first two drives and moving the ball with confidence. But after that? Total stall. Three of their next four drives ended in three-and-outs, and it wasn’t because of the Chiefs doing anything crazy.

Detroit simply went away from what was working. Instead of sticking with the hard runs between the tackles and the quick intermediate throws that had Kansas City on its heels early, the Lions started playing horizontally. The head coach made it clear that the offense didn’t meet his expectations.

“I felt like this was going to be a game where we were going to need to score 30 points at least. And we couldn’t. 17 is not enough, it’s not close. The offense is going to carry a lot more load. That’s what I felt. They’ve gotta be able to do more for us,” Campbell remarked.

The Lions hurt themselves over and over again. Between dropped passes, drive-killing penalties, and coverage breakdowns, it was self-inflicted to an extent. It’s all the little mistakes that separate a contender from a pretender when you’re facing a team like Kansas City.

“We had a couple of penalties that were big that hurt us. The drop hurt,” Campbell said.

Detroit finished with four penalties to Kansas City’s zero, which pretty much sums it up. From Amon-Ra St. Brown’s early drop on fourth down to defensive miscommunications in the red zone, it was one mistake after another. And Dan Campbell wasn’t the only one to point those out.

Jared Goff echoes Campbell’s frustration

Jared Goff actually played a solid game, good enough to beat most teams in the league. But against Patrick Mahomes and a fully loaded Chiefs offense, solid just doesn’t cut it. Goff finished 23-of-29 for 203 yards and two touchdowns. After the game, he echoed Dan Campbell’s frustrations about not finishing the plays.

“We were kind of both playing the game of long possessions. And when you play that game, you gotta score,” Goff remarked. We did run the ball well. I thought we threw the ball well at times. “Finishing these drives with TDs is what it came down to. They did it, we didn’t,” the quarterback said.

Detroit actually started the game sharp, moving down the field efficiently on the opening possession. But after a well-drawn trick play got wiped out, they had to settle for three instead of seven. Then came Brown’s drop on fourth down, and the defense couldn’t get stops when it mattered.

The turning point, though, might’ve been the negated touchdown that had Goff shaking his head in disbelief. Late in the first half, Detroit pulled off what looked like a brilliant Wildcat trick play. Running back David Montgomery took the snap, lobbed it to Goff, who bobbled it once before hauling it in and running untouched into the end zone. The Lions sideline exploded… until the flag came out.

An illegal motion penalty wiped out what could’ve been the game’s momentum swing. And the worst part? Nobody on the Lions sideline seemed to even know the rule existed. “I guess I gotta do a little research on what went wrong. My hands were not under center, and I was set to begin the play, Goff said.

Still, the 30-year-old wasn’t just there to complain. He gave full credit to the Chiefs for how they played on both sides of the ball.

“They’re a dang good offense, and so are we. I thought they played a little bit better than us. I think I’m taking a little bit away from how good their defense played. Coach Spags and that defense were well prepared,” he said.

Chiefs’ offense looked well-oiled from the start. Four touchdowns on seven drives, slicing through the Lions defense. After torching the Jaguars last week for 7.6 yards per play, they followed that up with 6.1 yards per snap against Detroit.

But that doesn’t take anything away from how good the defense was. Leo Chenal was everywhere, blowing up run lanes and setting the tone early. Bryan Cook and Chamarri Conner were running downhill to stop plays before they developed, and Jaylen Watson might’ve had one of his best performances in a Chiefs uniform.

And it felt like we saw peak Chris Jones yet again, who had his best performance of the season. And after last week’s criticism, he might reactivate his socials again.