Kansas City leaves Detroit with a wild 34-30 victory over the Lions off a 13-play comeback drive led by Patrick Mahomes, in the most clutch performance of his career, to lead the Chiefs offense 74 yards down the field to score the game-winning touchdown.
Mahomes and the Chiefs were off to another slow start to begin the first half and the Lions took advantage by jumping to an early 10-0 lead. The Kansas City passing game struggled to connect on deep passes thanks to Detroit’s tight man coverage that forced 18 incompletions.
The Chiefs were able to tie the game at 10 late in the second quarter with a one-yard handoff to LeSean McCoy for the score. A field goal by both teams kept the game tied at halftime.
The second half began with Kansas City return man Mecole Hardman fumbling the ball during the second-half kickoff, giving the ball to Detroit and setting the Lions up in Kansas City territory at the 36-yard line.
Five run plays later, the Lions set up first and goal at the 5-yard line. Quarterback Matthew Stafford throws a five-yard strike to Kenny Golladay for a go-ahead touchdown. However, the play was reviewed to determine Golladay never had complete control of the ball while going through the process of the catch and the play was ruled incomplete.
On the next play, Stafford rolls to his right, trying to make something happen, but defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi hits him and causes the ball to come out and Chris Jones is there to get the ball back for Kansas City.
Five plays into the ensuing drive, Mahomes hands off to Darrel Williams, who loses the football after Detroit’s Trey Flowers is there to punch the ball out and the Chiefs give the ball right back to the Lions.
After getting the ball back, Stafford hands off to running back J.D. McKissic and takes the Lions 27-yards to set up first and goal at the two. On the next play, Stafford hands the ball to Kerryon Johnson and the ball is fumbled on the one-yard line. Kansas City defensive back Baushad Breeland scoops up the ball and takes it 100 yards for the score to put the Chiefs out in front 20-13. On the following drive, the Lions travel 35 yards on seven plays and make the score 20-16 following a 53-yard field goal by Matt Prater.
Both teams capped off the third quarter by each scoring a touchdown, the Lions retook the lead following nine-yard laser beam from Matt Stafford to Kenny Golladay on a drive that traveled 45 yards on 8 plays. The Chiefs responded with a crazy nine-play drive of their own that included a ten-yard pass to Travis Kelce, who quickly lateraled the ball to LeSean McCoy to extend the play to Detroit’s 13-yard line to begin the fourth quarter.
On the very next play, following two Patrick Mahomes scrambles that set the Chiefs up on the 2-yard line, Darrel Williams is handed the ball to punch his way into the endzone for the go-ahead score.
With 3:19 left in the fourth, Matt Stafford connects with receiver Marvin Hall to burn the Kansas City secondary for a 34-yard gain to the 6-yard line. Two plays later on second and goal, Stafford finds Golladay again, this time in the endzone to pull the Lions ahead 30-27 with just over two minutes to play.
The final drive marks as one of the biggest clutch performances in Patrick Mahomes’ young career. The drive started at his own 21 yard line and on first and ten, Mahomes connects with Darrel Williams for a 11 gain before getting pushed out of bounds at the 32 to stop the clock at 2:12. On the next play, Mahomes tries for Williams again but the pass goes incomplete. On second and ten, Mahomes throws to Williams once more, this time, for a two-yard gain to the 36.
On third and eight, Mahomes looks deep for Demarcus Robinson but the pass goes incomplete and forces a fourth-down situation. On fourth and eight, instead of punting, Mahomes drops back and scrambles 15 yards to the midfield and keeps the drive alive with 1:32 on the clock.
The next play, Mahomes throws an 18 yard completion to Travis Kelce to get the Chiefs onto Lions side of the field at the 33.
Four plays later the Chiefs make it the the Detroit 16 yard line with :39 left on the clock, Mahomes drops back and throws for Byron Pringle, who makes the catch and goes 13 yards to the 3-yard line to set up first and goal. Two plays later, Darrel Williams takes a handoff up the middle to score the game-winning touchdown and a final defensive stand by the Chiefs secondary keeps the Lions out of the endzone and wins the game for Kansas City.
