Mike Tirico Says Lions' Win Over Chiefs Has An Asterisk Next To It, Immediately Gets Called Out By Detroit Fans

The 2023 NFL season kicked off with the Detroit Lions going on the road and knocking off the Kansas City Chiefs 21-20. It's hard not to describe the Lions' upset win as a statement, unless you're Mike Tirico.

Shortly after the clock hit zeros, Tirico felt the need to remind viewers at home one last time that the Chiefs were without both Travis Kelce and Chris Jones. Given that those two stars were out, the Lions' win has "an asterisk" next to it, according to Tirico.

First and foremost, Kelce and Jones not being available for the Chiefs was mentioned no less than 4,234 times during the game. There was literally no need to explain the situation yet again after the game was over.

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Secondly, and more importantly, is Tirico's comment somehow supposed to make fans feel bad for the Chiefs as if they're the first team to ever play a game without two of their key pieces? The Lions had nothing to do with Kelce banging up his knee or the Chiefs' front office unwilling to pay Jones his asking price.

It's a disrespectful comment from Tirico, who is usually very tame in his commentary.

Nevertheless, Lions fans got after him when he mentioned the asterisk.

With their season-opening win over the Chiefs, the Lions have now won nine of their last 11 games played dating back to last season. There's a long, long road ahead but it certainly feels like we could be talking about Detroit snapping its six-year playoff drought by the end of the season.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.