Four Takeaways From the Chiefs' 21-20 Loss to the Lions

Here are four overarching thoughts on the Chiefs' very first game of the 2023 NFL season.

With more than 200 days having passed since their last big-time game, Super Bowl LVII against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Kansas City Chiefs finally got back under the bright lights versus the Detroit Lions on Thursday.

Raising its championship banner before the game and honoring the late Norma Hunt at halftime, Kansas City had an emotional night. That's without even accounting for the game itself, which saw Andy Reid's squad get down early by a seven-point deficit before being back up by that same amount at halftime. It was a tightly contested battle deep into the fourth quarter of what turned out to be an ugly game, with the Lions ultimately coming out on top to kick off the 2023 NFL season. 

Here are four takeaways from Thursday's game.

As expected, the Chiefs missed Travis Kelce

It sounds this simple because it is: Travis Kelce is one of the very best players in the sport, and no team would be the exact same without him. Many expected some level of dip in the Chiefs' offensive consistency, floor or ceiling (or even a combination of it all) without him on the field. Kansas City's duo of Noah Gray and Blake Bell did their best to fill the void left by Kelce in the offense but on multiple occasions, it became glaringly obvious that quarterback Patrick Mahomes wasn't throwing to his usual All-Pro target.

It also didn't help Kansas City's case that the wide receiver corps struggled to gain consistent separation throughout the night. On top of that, Skyy Moore didn't make the initial impact many expected and Kadarius Toney had multiple ugly miscues. On the heels of a good first half, Mahomes looked out of sync with his pass-catchers and didn't have a good enough running game behind him for the offense to hit the reset button. Kelce will eventually be back and some of the drop luck will revert to normal, although this was still a borderline horrific showing outside of a few good plays by Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Justin Watson. 

Observations on the new-look offensive tackle duo in its first test

Despite some dramatics on X (no longer Twitter) surrounding Jawaan Taylor's pre-snap alignment and the timing on his jumps off the snap, he had multiple stellar reps in his first game as a Chief. Slowing down Lions sophomore pass-rusher Aidan Hutchinson is one of the tougher tasks in the sport and while the 23-year-old still made an impact, Taylor contained him mostly well. The jump in quick-twitch athleticism and general prowess from Andrew Wylie to his successor was clear as day.

On the opposite side of the line, veteran Donovan Smith showcased both his strengths and weaknesses. His mobility is a stark contrast from that of Taylor and he also collected a holding penalty, yet he has very impressive play strength and looked comfortable in his first regular-season game as a Chief. The debut performance of Kansas City's bookend duo, when factoring in how good the interior of the offensive line is, is a plus heading into Week 2. 

Thoughts on Kansas City's defense without Chris Jones

If anyone would've proposed a 14-point allowance by the Chiefs' defense coming into this game, any Chiefs fan (and potentially any member of the team) would've signed up for it. Without its best player and its prized free agent signing along the defensive line, Steve Spagnuolo's defense forced five punts and made Detroit go 5-for-15 on third downs while averaging 5.3 yards per play. Players such as Mike Danna, George Karlaftis and even rookie Felix Anudike-Uzomah got pressure on Lions signal-caller Jared Goff. The run defense, albeit not perfect, held Detroit to 3.6 yards per carry.

When a team is supposed to have one of the best offenses in the NFL, if not the best offense in the NFL, it can't be too upset at the opponent scoring two touchdowns against its unit on the other side of the field. Mahomes and company didn't hold up their end of the bargain, plain and simple. Even with Chris Jones watching from a suite at Arrowhead Stadium, Spagnuolo did a quality job coaching and his group shouldn't hang its heads one week into the year.

The mini-bye before Week 2 is very much needed

Between the banner being raised, Kelce and Jones being out, the multitude of drops and the sheer grit of the Lions all night, this was a tough and emotional game for the Chiefs. The reigning Super Bowl champions had many self-inflicted mistakes on Thursday and also ran into a team that could be playing in the postseason next January. This isn't a shameful loss by any means, yet it's still one that can absolutely drain a team.

With 10 days between Thursday and next Sunday when Kansas City faces the Jacksonville Jaguars, every opportunity for improvement will be utilized. Getting healthier and correcting mistakes on both sides of the ball is paramount, especially considering that things won't get much easier over the next few games. After one of the uglier losses of the Reid-Mahomes era, there's a bit of extra time to regroup before the club takes the field again.