Brad Holmes said the Lions weren't scared. Then they bared their teeth and glared. Dared by the NFL, they made Arrowhead their lair.
The Chiefs had never lost a season-opener with Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid. The Lions had yet to win one under Dan Campbell and Holmes. After the Chiefs unveiled their Super Bowl banner Thursday night, the Lions revealed their ambitions.
They jumped ahead, fell behind, tied it up on a rookie's pick six. They fell behind again, hung around and then won it on a roster's worth of plays. Down 20-14 in the fourth quarter, the Lions stacked one important snap on another, a tackle here, a block there, a conversion when they needed one most. And when they regained the lead on a grown man's drive with seven minutes to go, they refused to give it back.
"This was a total team win," GM Brad Holmes gushed on the field after the game. "Pure complementary football. I just love how it came together. Special teams, defense, offense, they were at their greatest when their greatest was needed."
GM's and coaches love to preach all three phases. Holmes and Campbell actually mean it. When the Lions' vaunted offense was slow out of the gate, Campbell could have punted after a three-and-out deep in his own territory. Instead, he faked it on 4th and 2 -- on the road, in the first quarter, across from the reining MVP. 10 plays later, the Lions were in the end zone. There isn't another NFL coach brazen enough to make that call.
“You get a coach lwho is ballsy and lets his nuts hang like that a little bit," said running back David Montgomery, "it’s big to be a part of that.”
For all his brawn, Campbell thinks the game. He and special teams coordinator Dave Fipp have a video log of every fake punt in the NFL from the last several seasons. They've charted the looks that work and those that don't, based on the defense, the field position and the game clock. If Campbell is even thinking about calling a fake in the week leading up to a game, he sits in Fipp's office and dissects the details, running the play over and over again in his head.
In this case, Campbell said, the time was right: "That’s something that Fipp and I had talked about. We knew there was going to be a right time to do it, and I felt like that was it."
Campbell's gamble brought the offense back to life. But the Lions would have been in shambles without their defense. This was not the unit that finished last in the NFL last season. And while Kansas City's offense wasn't the unit that finished first, missing star tight end Travis Kelce, "I don’t care, dude," said Aidan Hutchinson. "A win’s a win."
Hutchinson has every right to talk. He spent most of the game battling an offensive tackle who appeared to be starting early on every snap, and still got after Mahomes. Detroit's defensive front forced the two-time MVP into one of the lowest completion percentages of his career, aided by his receivers. It also held up against the run. And while the Lions' new-look secondary came unglued at times, it was sticky in the second half. Rookie Brian Branch swung the game with his pick-six. He's been making plays like that since he arrived.
The Lions allowed 5.2 yards per carry last season. They held Kansas City's running backs to 3.2 Thursday night. The Chiefs converted nearly half their third downs last season. They went 0-for-7 in the second half. The box score will say the Lions never sacked Mahomes, but they harassed him all night, Hutchinson leading the charge, James Houston literally nipping at his heels. He did not miss receivers on his own.
And yet the Chiefs were in control in the fourth, up three and on the move, 2nd and 1 in Lions' territory. Then a tackle for loss. Then a QB pressure that forced a field goal. They were still in control on the ensuing drive, 3rd and 12 for the Lions deep in their own territory. Then a gutsy throw by Jared Goff and a gritty catch by Josh Reynolds. When Montgomery plowed into the end zone several plays later, the Lions took control and kept it.
America learned a lot about this team, just like it did in last season's finale. Its coach said he "didn't learn anything. I got verification on what I already knew." These Lions will not lie down. They have the scars to prove it, wounds from the last two seasons. Now they have the talent to make their toughness count. They have playmakers all over the field. This was no shocker to those paying attention, which is shocking to consider.
"I think we’re to the point now where we’re built for environments like this, to go on the road, to go anywhere, and pull out a win," said Goff. "And even if it’s ugly, we’re happy about it."
The defense had to be thrilled. Twice it stopped Mahomes when he had a chance to take the lead, the second time on a drive that started near midfield. And on a night the offense could have been better, it wore down the Chiefs to close out the game. The Lions were invited to the opening-night party, with the expectation that they'd see themselves out. They wore all white in a sea of red, then hung around and closed the place down.
"It was expected," said Holmes. "And that’s the standard that we have to raise. In years past, it was, ‘They play hard, they play hard, they play hard.’ No, now it’s expecting to win. And I think we did that tonight. We showed the world."
The world will have to see more to fully believe, but believe this: these are not the Same Old Lions. They were banished under the brightest lights Thursday, replaced by the team that was born last season. No one in the last decade has won like the Chiefs, but "we’re tired of losing, man," said Hutchinson.
“We’re tired of being on the poor side of things where you walk away from these games and it’s a close one but you lose," he said. "We’re coming this season, dude."
And that's the thing. On a night where they arrived, the Lions -- these Lions -- will tell you they're still not here.