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Chiefs-Lions Preview

Published Sep. 14, 2011 3:34 p.m. ET

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Many expected the Kansas City Chiefs to build on last season's postseason appearance, but they seemed to take a step back in their season opener.

Regrouping could prove all the more difficult without one of their best defensive players.

With Eric Berry out for the season, the Chiefs look to put their humiliating loss behind them as they visit the Detroit Lions, who try to open 2-0 for the first time in four seasons Sunday.

Kansas City (0-1), which went 10-6 en route to winning the AFC West in 2010, looked like anything but a playoff-caliber team during last Sunday's 41-7 rout at the hands of Buffalo - its most lopsided defeat since falling 34-0 at Carolina on Oct. 5, 2008.

"The entire organization, when you have a game like that, it's embarrassed," coach Todd Haley said. "And it's a good thing. It means you care, and it means something to you. It's important to you and that gives you the impetus to make it better.

"As I told the team, it can't stay the same. If it stays the same, the results will be the same. It has to change and it will."

Change certainly needs to come on the defensive side, but doing so without Berry won't be easy. The Pro Bowl safety, who was selected fifth overall in last year's draft, tore his left ACL in the first quarter of the opener and was placed on injured reserve Wednesday, ending his season.

"I know we just lost one of our best players and that hurts," Haley said. "That's one of those that really digs you deep, you know, first and foremost, just from the standpoint I know how hard he's worked, how much it means to him. It's devastating for him, so that's the biggest heartache for me."

Berry played a huge role in holding opponents to an average of 183.8 yards passing in the final five games in 2010, and Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick exploited his absence with four TD passes. With Berry sidelined, Lions signal-caller Matthew Stafford could be in for another big day.

Stafford picked apart Tampa Bay's secondary last Sunday, completing 24 of 33 passes for 305 yards and three touchdowns - including two to Pro Bowl wideout Calvin Johnson - during Detroit's 27-20 victory - its first season-opening win since 2007.

While the Lions (1-0) controlled the ball for more than 36 minutes, it wasn't all smooth sailing for coach Jim Schwartz's team, which committed several careless penalties before withstanding a late Buccaneers rally.

"Our expectations are high," defensive lineman Kyle Vanden Bosch said. "It's frustrating that we really dominated a lot of the game and statistically did some things really well, and yet it ended up being close.

"If this were the same old Lions, we'd be happy to get a win. I don't think anybody's satisfied with how that game ended up."

The Lions limited Tampa Bay to just 56 rushing yards but could have their hands full with the elusive Jamaal Charles.

Charles led all running backs with 6.4 yards per carry and finished second in the league with 1,467 rushing yards in 2010, but he wasn't able to showcase his talents much in the opener. He had 56 rushing yards on 10 carries and also caught five passes for nine yards and a TD.

Kansas City went 3-0 when Charles had at least 20 carries last season and will surely look to get the speedy back more involved.

"We just got to come together as a team," said Charles, who also lost a key fumble. "We got 15 more games. This is a long season. We have to bounce back strong."

Getting the ground game going should open things up for Matt Cassel, who threw for 119 yards with a touchdown and an interception last Sunday. Including a 30-7 loss to Baltimore in the playoffs, Cassel is averaging just 101.3 passing yards in his last three games, during which he has thrown six interceptions and only one TD. He has also been sacked 10 times over that span.

Detroit, which hasn't posted a winning record since going 9-7 in 2000, has won five straight dating to Dec. 12 - its longest run since taking seven in a row Nov. 12-Dec. 23, 1995.

The Lions had dropped four straight to the Chiefs before winning the most recent meeting, 25-20 on Dec. 23, 2007.

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