The Kansas City Chiefs remain in as good a position as any to challenge for the Super Bowl come February, especially for as long as star quarterback Patrick Mahomes is healthy. Mahomes is capable of leading the team to great heights, as evidenced by their Super Bowl win almost seven months ago. But as that one cheesy pop song said, “even the best fall down sometimes”. On Thursday night, that's exactly what happened to Mahomes and the Chiefs after they found themselves on the receiving end of a 21-20 loss to the Detroit Lions — the first Week 1 defeat of Mahomes' career.

While it's still early days in the NFL season and it's not the best idea to overreact to a sample size of one game, Mahomes and the Chiefs may have gotten exactly what they needed so they could approach the 2023 season with the right mindset. Evidently, their loss to the Lions lit a fire underneath Mahomes, who is raring to redeem himself after a substandard performance.

“Got to be better,” Mahomes said, per Ed Werder of ESPN.

Patrick Mahomes is an elite quarterback, make no mistake about it, but even the best QBs have off nights. Mahomes, against the Lions, completed just 21 of his 39 passes. In addition to his subpar pass completion percentage, Mahomes also threw a hospital pass that Brian Branch, a rookie for the Lions, promptly intercepted for a pick-six.

It always requires a different brand of composure and edge when teams at the top fight to keep their place. And the Chiefs, at the moment, are certainly pondering on what kind of effort and energy they must exert to ward off those that are gunning for their place.

“The young guys know that we're not going to just kind of walk in and win the game. You got to play good football. We’re gonna get every team's best shot,” Mahomes added.

In Week 2, the Chiefs will surely get the Jacksonville Jaguars' best shot. The Jaguars were a playoff team last year, so the Chiefs must bring their A-game to avoid starting the season with an ignominious 0-2 record.