While the entire Detroit Lions organization qualifies as "losers" after their trip to Arrowhead Stadium in Week 6, one of its members is more sore than others about it. That would be safety Brian Branch, who did not take well to losing by 13 points to the Kansas City Chiefs in primetime.
While it's natural for a player to be frustrated shortly after suffering a defeat, there's just no reason to be a poor sport, but Branch, who has no problem showing his emotions around the game he loves, hit a new low on Sunday night in K.C.
For those who missed the post-game scrum, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes tried to shake Branch's hand on the field shortly after the clock ran out. It's a typical display of sportsmanship found in any sport at any level—even from a very young age. Somehow Branch missed that memo and decided to ignore Mahomes.
The Chiefs' win over the Lions got ugly shortly after the game was officially over.
Patrick Mahomes wanted to give a handshake to Brian Branch, but Branch refused.
Then Branch slapped JuJu Smith Schuster to the ground.
And it got ugly from there. Whoa.
pic.twitter.com/ScG16hHdaw
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) October 13, 2025
Things got ugly from there. Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who had a very under-appreciated night for Kansas City, took exception to Branch's attitude on the field and said something to the Lions' safety. From there, Branch hit Smith-Schuster's head, and the wideout responded by rushing after Branch and pushing him and teammate Isiah Pacheco, who was just trying to keep the parties separated.
To his credit, Smith-Schuster was seen with a towel held up to his nose following the punch from Branch, so there was an obvious reason behind his retaliatory chase.
JuJu Smith-Schuster took a punch from Lions safety Brian Branch at the end of the #Chiefs 30-17 win….holding a towel to his nose on his way to the lockerroom. pic.twitter.com/FL47w3lhS7
— Sports Radio 810 WHB (@SportsRadio810) October 13, 2025
While it was far too late for any player to be penalized in Week 6, the National Football League will undoubtedly look into the incident and hand out a punishment of some kind. Branch's antics might even warrant a short suspension of some kind, but it's also possible that Smith-Schuster will get caught up in the drama as well and face a potential fine.
Mahomes took exception to Branch's response and gave a diplomatic answer when asked about it.
A pissed off Patrick Mahomes to NBC broadcast after Brian Branch gave JuJu Smith-Schuster an off-guard smack to the head sparking a postgame scuffle: “They can do all the extracurricular stuff they want to do, but we play the game between the whistles." pic.twitter.com/vNkZS770jK
— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) October 13, 2025
For Branch, this is nothing new. He's been fined 14 different times in his short NFL career, making it clear that he's going to be who he is without concern for censoring himself in any way. But after such a lopsided loss, it's more salt in the wound for those flying home to Detroit to have their teammate give off such a poor look after the game.