Lions' inability to create big plays on offense costly in loss to Chiefs

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Lions struggled in Kansas City on Sunday night.

The Chiefs had an effective game plan set up to stop Detroit and the personnel advantage needed to execute it.

The Lions lost 30-17 to the perennial AFC powerhouse.

“I'm disappointed,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said after the game. "It's been a long time since we've watched someone kneel (the ball) three times at the end of a game that isn't even close. We were down two scores and we got worked pretty good.

“So yeah, it is really disappointing.”

Campbell said he expected his team to need at least 30 points to have a chance to win — a prediction that turned out to be accurate.

“I felt like this was the kind of game where we needed at least that many and we couldn't,” he said. “Defensively, we had some opportunities that we have to capitalize on — we didn't get any takeaways — but, really, the offense needed to show up there.”

Jared Goff threw for 203 yards and two touchdowns, and the Lions rushed for 98 yards, but they weren't able to break the big plays the offense usually produces. They didn't have a rushing touchdown for just the second time this season — the other being the Week 1 loss in Green Bay — and the Chiefs took away Detroit's catch-and-run ability.

Goff averaged 8.8 yards per completion, his second-lowest total of the season behind the 7.3 yards against the Packers.

“I don't want to take anything away from how well their defense played,” Goff said. "They were well prepared and did a lot of things that gave us issues. But our mentality was to score on every drive, and when we had long drives, we needed to finish them with touchdowns.

“We didn't do that and they did.”

One drive that ended in a field goal was Detroit's first, although the Lions were originally ruled to have scored a touchdown off one of their many trick plays.

Goff walked up behind center, then went into motion and caught a touchdown pass from running back David Montgomery. However, the officials ruled he hadn't set for 1 second before splitting out wide, making it a penalty for illegal motion.

“I was under the impression that I wasn't declared as a quarterback until I put my hands under center,” Goff said. “But there's a new version of the rule that I had never heard of, and I guess some of our coaches had never heard of, so we'll have to do some research.

“But that wasn't the reason we lost the game.”

After struggling to get speedy Jameson Williams into the passing game all season, he caught six passes for 66 yards and a touchdown. They weren't able to get the ball to him deep — his catches came an average of just 4 yards downfield, but he put up 44 yards after the catch.

Jahmyr Gibbs was held in check by the Kansas City defense, finishing with 18 touches — 17 rushes and one reception — for just 65 total yards.

Aidan Hutchinson finished with one sack and a forced fumble — the fourth straight week he has had at least one of each. That matches the longest streak since 1999, also achieved by Cedric Jones (1999), Simeon Rice (2002), Robert Mathis (2005) and Khalil Mack (2018).

Safety Brian Branch was suspended for one game without pay by the NFL on Monday for unsportsmanlike conduct following a loss at Kansas City. Branch punched Chiefs receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster on Sunday night, setting off a postgame melee.

“I love Brian Branch, but what he did is inexcusable and it is not going to be accepted here,” Campbell said. “It's not what we do, and I apologize to Coach (Andy) Reid and the Chiefs.”

Safety Kerby Joseph missed 11 of Detroit's 64 defensive snaps after aggravating a knee injury. He returned to the game, but it remains unclear how the injury will affect him in upcoming games.

4 — With Branch suspended, Joseph dealing with his knee and cornerbacks D.J. Reed (hamstring) and Terrion Arnold (shoulder) out with injuries, the Lions will be facing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night without any of their starting defensive backs at full health.

The Lions will have to find a way to put pressure on Baker Mayfield if they want to avoid him picking apart the banged-up secondary the way Patrick Mahomes did on Sunday night.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, top, struggles for yardage as Detroit Lions linebacker Trevor Nowaske defends during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery, left, runs for a first down as Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie (22) defends during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, left, gains a first down before being brought down by Detroit Lions linebacker Jack Campbell, right, during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)1

Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams is unable to catch a pass on fourth down during the second half of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

ANTWERP, Belgium (AP) — Getting ready for the holiday season has never been stressful for Christel Dauwe — after all, her holiday period lasts all year long in her Christmas ornament shop in the Belgian city of Antwerp.

Her collecting began in her teenage years, and she now has more than 64,000 ornaments in her personal collection and another 18,000 displayed in her shop, the Christel Dauwe Collection.

“My personal wish is to have a Christmas museum, where ornaments and the idea of Christmas can be on permanent display,” she told The Associated Press. But until that day comes, her small shop uses every corner to display its vast inventory.

Its wares include birds of every feather, fruit arrangements, cars, angels, snowmen and other figurines, ranging from a few euros for a wood laser-cut Cathedral of Antwerp to more than 500 euros ($580) for a special ornament of Alexander the Great on horseback.

The store began 35 years ago as an antiques shop, selling a few ornaments on the side, but Dauwe wanted to try selling more.

On the suggestion of a Polish au pair, Dauwe and her husband traveled to Poland and found a factory that could produce exactly the ornaments she wanted. The only catch was that 200 pieces of each design had to be ordered at a time.

They returned home deflated.

“After second thoughts though, we decided to order 20 shapes of 200 each, and one day they arrived -- all 4,000 of them. We gave some away and the rest we put in the shop and, well … That’s the story from there,” she said.

The original Polish factory still supplies many of the shop’s ornaments, in addition to 32 other European companies.

“There is an ornament here for everyone. We’ve had people come in who say they have a new pet or even a new car and we try to match an ornament to them. In the end the goal is not to have some kind of posh tree decorated all with the same colors and Christmas balls. The goal of ornaments is to make you smile,″ she said.

Some ornaments are more personal. And one year there was an ornament of Christel herself, designed by her husband as a surprise.

She’s been asked to provide ornaments for weddings and other events as well.

As far as having Christmas all year round, Dauwe says she is never bored with it. Twice a year she goes around the shop and dusts each ornament individually. She has met people from all over the world, and entertains die-hard locals who stop into the store just for a morning chat.

“There are two ways to go with Christmas. It’s either the nostalgia of the past or the hope for the future,″ she said. ″Hope is what is the most important to me. It’s what keeps you going.”

Owner of the Christel Dauwe Collection ornaments shop, Christel Dauwe, shows an ornament of the Horse Bayard, a folkloric Belgian event, at her shop in Antwerp, Belgium, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Owner of the Christel Dauwe Collection ornaments shop, Christel Dauwe, takes a holiday ornament out of a display case at her shop in Antwerp, Belgium, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

A holiday ornament of a British phone cabin hangs on a shelf in the Christel Dauwe Collection ornaments shop in Antwerp, Belgium, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Holiday ornaments are seen through the window of the Christel Dauwe Collection ornaments shop in Antwerp, Belgium, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Owner of the Christel Dauwe Collection ornaments shop, Christel Dauwe, wraps boxes of holiday ornaments at her shop in Antwerp, Belgium, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)