KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs got a "reality check" in Thursday's season-opening loss against Detroit — the path to a Super Bowl repeat, which hasn't happened in 19 years in the NFL, won't be easy.
“It will be good for the young guys to know we’re not going to just walk in and win the game,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “You have to play good football. We’re going to get every team’s best shot. I’ve preached it to them all preseason, but they know now.”
Before the game, the players remained in the locker room as the team unveiled an updated Super Bowl Champions banner, which includes last season’s Super Bowl LVII win.
The holdovers from the 2022 season celebrated that title with a ring ceremony in June and had no interest in revisiting it ahead of the 2023 opener Thursday against Detroit at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
“Whatever we did last year won’t help us win a game this year,” Chiefs safety Justin Reid said.
It certainly didn’t Thursday as Kansas City dropped its season openers — quite literally — 21-20 against the upstart Lions.
“We’ve just got to play better and, when you have the opportunity to make plays, you’ve got to make plays,” Reid said.
Yes, the Chiefs went into the game without a pair of All-Pros, tight end Travis Kelce on offense and defensive tackle Chris Jones on defense.
Maybe if one or both are on the field, the outcome is different, but the bottom line is that Kansas City made too many mistakes — most notably dropped passes and missed tackles in short yardage — to beat a hungry team with playoff aspirations that was unimpressed with the Chiefs' championship pedigree.
“The reality check is that’s last year; this is this year,” linebacker Nick Bolton said. “We've got 17 opportunities to put our best foot forward. We lost one of those today. We’ve got 16 more.”
Kansas City's offense managed a meager 316 yards, converted barely one-third of its third downs and gave up a defensive touchdown.
“We had plenty of chances and we just didn’t do it tonight,” Chiefs center Creed Humphrey said. He added, “They made the competitive plays tonight and we didn’t. We’ve got to fix that. We’ve got to be better with that, and that’s something we can fix. We’ve got to get back in the film room, study and come back and fix that.”
Reality check indeed — even for a defense that only allowed 14 points and 368 yards.
“We lost,” Reid said. “You’re never going to feel good. There’s no participation awards. Did you win or did you lose? We left some plays on the field on all three phases of the ball. Offense, defense, special teams — we all left some plays on the field. We’ve just got to take this as a reality check and know that we’re going to have a target on our back and we’ve just got to play better.”
If there is a silver lining, there’s nowhere but up for Kansas City in the 2023 season.
“It’s a great learning point for us,” Humphrey said. “You’d rather lose right now than you would in the playoffs. Getting a learning experience and figuring these things out, it’s better to do that in the beginning of the season than it is later in the season.”
It’s only the second season-opening loss in coach Andy Reid’s 11 seasons with the franchise.
“We’re trying to win another Super Bowl and this is obviously not the way we wanted to start,” Mahomes said. “Anytime I lose, I’m embarrassed, so I’m going to try to get better so I don’t lose more as the season goes on.”
The Chiefs have to wait 10 days for the chance to atone. Up next is an AFC Divisional rematch with the Jaguars at noon on Sept. 17 in Jacksonville.
“I’d rather get to a game quicker,” Justin Reid said. “I’d like to play a game tomorrow, so we can just get the feeling out of our mouth. ... We’re just going to take it on the chin, not make any excuses about it, come back and play better.”
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