Sunday night’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Detroit Lions ended with a brawl that saw at least one player head to the locker room with an injury.
In the final seconds of the game, the Chiefs simply knelt the ball down to kill the rest of the clock and cement their 30-17 win. As the sidelines emptied and both teams walked on the field to shake hands, NBC announcer Mike Tirico noted that something was going on away from the camera.
“Oh, got a little fight here!” Tirico said on the broadcast. “Little altercation going on. I don’t know what started it.”
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was seen jogging over to the melee in an effort to bring it up. Once he got in the middle of it, one of his teammates was already on the ground and surrounded by players from both teams. The player, later identified as receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, was on the ground with a Lions player.
When the Lions player got back on his feet, he immediately went after another Chiefs player and the chaos continued. A few seconds later, things finally settled down.
Replays of the commotion revealed it was started by Lions safety Brian Branch. After Mahomes knelt the ball down, he extended his hand to Branch to offer a handshake. Branch, however, ignored it and walked right past him. Instead, he walked directly toward Smith-Schuster and swung at his helmet. Smith-Schuster fell to the ground. Chiefs running back Isaiah Pacheco tried to escort Branch away, but Smith-Schuster got up and sprinted right back to him.
Smith-Schuster was later seen walking to the locker room with a towel over his nose.
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
In his post-game press conference, Lions coach Dan Campbell called Branch’s actions “inexcusable” and that they “won’t be accepted.”
"I love Brian Branch but what he did is inexcusable. And it's not gonna be accepted here."
Lions head coach Dan Campbell started his postgame presser by addressing the scuffle that broke out at the end of the game vs. the Chiefs. pic.twitter.com/8rtvlEhIlC
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 13, 2025
Watch above via NBC