The Kansas City Chiefs’ 30–17 win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday ended with far more drama than anyone could have imagined.
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As Patrick Mahomes took the final kneel-down to close out the game, Lions safety Brian Branch marched straight past the quarterback’s extended hand and made a beeline for Chiefs WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, before throwing an open-handed punch that sparked a full-on postgame skirmish.
The blow landed under JuJu’s facemask, leaving the veteran receiver bleeding from his nose as tempers flared on both sidelines.
Chiefs RB Isiah Pacheco quickly jumped in to restrain Brian Branch, but not before the two players exchanged another round of shoves and ended up on the turf surrounded by teammates. Within seconds, Arrowhead’s celebratory atmosphere turned chaotic.
Brian Branch is MORON…
You already lost and now you wanna start a fight. Have some impulse control bud pic.twitter.com/vfBVyMO72A
— NFL Draft Files (@NFL_DF) October 13, 2025
Unsurprisingly, many were disappointed with Branch’s poor sportsmanship on display. Former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III was among the first to condemn the Lions star’s actions, calling for serious repercussions from the league.
“Brian Branch started the fight on the field. Brian Branch threw a punch and knocked JuJu Smith-Schuster down. Brian Branch should be suspended. THERE IS NO PLACE IN SPORTS FOR THAT,” RG3 tweeted on “X”, echoing the sentiment of many who saw the punch as unprovoked.
Even Lions HC Dan Campbell didn’t mince words after reviewing the footage. Opening his postgame press conference with an apology to his Chiefs counterpart, Andy Reid, and JuJu Smith-Schuster, Campbell said, “I love Brian Branch, but what he did was inexcusable. It’s not going to be accepted here. It’s not what we do. It’s not what we’re about.”
On the other side, Reid confirmed the incident left a mark, quite literally. “The guy came up and hit JuJu for what looked like no reason. We were taking a knee. That’s tough,” the head coach said, adding that the punch caused “pretty good damage” to JuJu’s nose.
Brian Branch also didn’t shy away from taking responsibility, though he expressed a bit of frustration at what led up to the altercation.
Speaking to USA TODAY Sports, the 23-year-old admitted, “I did a little childish thing. But I’m tired of people doing stuff in between the plays and the ref don’t catch it, trying to bully me out there. But I should’ve never did it. It was childish.”
He later elaborated that his anger stemmed from an uncalled “illegal block in the back” by Smith-Schuster earlier in the game, one he felt went unnoticed by officials like countless other such instances in the game.
“I got blocked in the back illegally… It was in front of the ref and the ref didn’t do anything. Just stuff like that. I could’ve gotten hurt off that. I still shouldn’t have done that… I should’ve shown it between the whistles. Not after the game. I apologized for that,” Branch said.
JuJu, for his part, was quick to defuse the situation postgame. “I made a good block,” he said. “He obviously responded after the game. At the end of the day, it’s about the team win.”
All things factored in, Branch’s outburst now faces scrutiny from both the league office and his own team.
The young safety has already been fined three times this season, and seven times last year, a record that won’t help his case as the NFL reviews the footage for possible suspension. And if Adam Schefter is to be believed, both a hefty fine and suspension are very, very likely for the young safety.
But regardless of the league’s actions, the message from both coaches and players was clear: what happens after the whistle can undo everything that came before it. And as RGIIi put it bluntly, “There is no place in sports for that.”
