The much-awaited first NFL interception for Detroit Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold arrived with 12:15 left in Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears, the 19th regular-season contest of the former Alabama All-American’s career.
Three snaps after giving up a 37-yard reception to Chicago wide receiver Rome Odunze, Arnold picked off another pass from quarterback Caleb Williams to Odunze at the Detroit 14-yard line.
But it didn’t count.
Arnold’s official interception total went back to zero when the Bears accepted a roughing-the-passer penalty against Lions safety Brian Branch, a teammate of Arnold’s at Alabama in the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
“I feel like I don’t get how that’s roughing the passer, where I’m jumping, and it wasn’t even late to me,” Branch said. “I’m coming down. It’s not like I’m running full speed, and I just bulldoze into him and he got rid of the ball. But he let go, I was already in the air, and I just came down and he ducked. So, like, I don’t know. I disagree with it.
“I owe Terrion. I took away his first career interception, and I feel bad. But I’m going give him one again.”
RELATED:ALABAMA NFL ROUNDUP
The penalty was part of Branch’s full stat day in Detroit’s 52-21 victory over Chicago.
Branch had six tackles (one off the team lead), the third sack of his career, two tackles for loss, one pass breakup and one forced fumble.
“It’s very fun,” Branch said of his multi-faceted role for the Detroit defense. “Just knowing that they trust me doing different things makes me just want to go harder and just want to help my team. Whatever I can do to help my team win, that’s what I’m here for.”
Branch put his helmet on the football being carried by Chicago running back D’Andre Swift, and Detroit recovered the fumble at the Lions 30-yard line on the next-to-last play of the first quarter to preserve a 14-7 lead.
“In in this league, that’s what it’s about -- getting takeaways, winning the turnover battle,” Branch said. “And coach (Dan) Campbell and (defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard), all our coaches preaches that no matter what the offense is doing, defense got to force turnovers. And when we force turnovers, shoot, it gives our offense another chance to go score. And just giving them more opportunities, that’s what we’re supposed to do.”
Branch also caused Odunze to fumble at the Lions 43-yard line on a 5-yard reception in the second quarter, but it doesn’t show up on his official stat line.
Bears tackle Braxton Jones got flagged for a face-mask penalty on the play, and because Chicago recovered the fumble, Detroit accepted the 15-yard mark-off against the Bears, turning the snap into a no-play officially, erasing the tackle and forced fumble from Branch’s line.
FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OURNFL PAGE
After posting the NFC’s best regular-season record at 15-2 in 2024, Detroit opened the 2025 season with a 27-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sept. 7. Branch said the Lions did not want to start the campaign with back-to-back losses in the NFC North.
“It showed us that we know what we’re capable of doing,” Branch said. “We know how good we are when we execute what Coach Shep calls, and Coach Shep called a great ball game and he put everybody position to make plays, even though there were still plays that we missed out on, I missed out on. But we know we re-established our brand of football, and I feel like this was an important game.”
Branch said the Lions also took extra motivation from facing Chicago coach Ben Johnson, who called the plays for the Bears after handling that duty for the previous three seasons in Detroit as the offensive coordinator.
Branch said Johnson “could have went anywhere else” but landed at a division rival.
“We knew coming into this game that this is personal,” Branch said. “Really, all these games personal. But this one was just -- we felt like we’ve been betrayed, from the staff to the players. And, you know, we love Ben. We still love Ben. He’s a great coach. He’s a great mastermind. But, yeah, it was time to get after him.”
The Lions step into the prime-time spotlight in Week 3 of the NFL’s 2025 season when they play the Baltimore Ravens at 7:15 p.m. CDT Sept. 22 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. ABC and ESPN will televise the game.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.