Kansas City, Mo. — One the NFL’s great home-field advantages, at one of its more historic venue, witnessed a noticeable contrast in its standard sea of red and yellow. The Kansas City Chiefs faithful were out in full force for the team’s banner-raising celebration from last year’s Super Bowl victory, particularly with their ability to generate noise, but there was another noisy bunch, clad in Honolulu blue, who left their own mark on the evening’s proceedings.
From the time they opened the gates ahead of Thursday night’s game, the impressive presence of Detroit’s fan base could not go unnoticed at Arrowhead Stadium. The stands, much like the city’s streets, hotel lobbies and BBQ restaurants the past couple of days, were peppered with Lions jerseys, particularly behind the visitors bench, where nearly a third of the crowd appeared to be in town to support the upstart Lions.
“When I walked out pregame, I’m looking, you see the sea of blue,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “I’m like, ‘Wow.’ And then about the third quarter, you could start hearing them. You could hear them. And it just started to grow as we got into the fourth quarter, man. Our fans, they made themselves known and we could feel it. So it’s outstanding to have fans that travel like that, man. We see you and it’s much appreciated.”
Throughout the game, “Let’s Go Lions” chants could be heard through the press box’s windows. Before the game and in the early stages of the contest, the locals quickly drowned them out, but the joy of the road fans couldn’t be contained after the final whistle, when the Lions had emerged victorious, 21-20.
Thousands of Lions supporters lingered in the crowd after the final whistle, soaking in the moment after their team had knocked off the defending Super Bowl champions in a showcase game for the league, one of the franchise’s biggest wins in decades.
“Yeah, it felt a lot like Green Bay last year, very similar,” quarterback Jared Goff said. “We love our fans. It seemed like they may have forced that false start at the end for Kansas City, which would be pretty impressive if so. It looked like it. They were loud when we were on defense and they were quiet when we were on offense. They helped us out there on defense.”
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter/X: @Justin_Rogers