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JuJu Smith-Schuster bleeding heading into locker room after punch from Brian Branch

Untitled design (2)by: Sam Gillenwater10/13/25samdg_33
Chiefs WR JuJu Smith-Schuster
Jay Biggerstaff | Imagn Images

The Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs got into it postgame after a postgame interaction that led to an altercation. It was significant enough too that WR JuJu Smith-Schuster was left bleeding after the incident.

Smith-Schuster, as well as RB Isaiah Pacheco, got into it with DB Brian Branch, which caused both sidelines to get fully involved after the 30-17 win for Kansas City on ‘Sunday Night Football’. Video afterward would show Smith-Schuster walking back to the locker room with his face covered in the aftermath.

Reacting to Branch not shaking the hand of QB Patrick Mahomes postgame, Smith-Schuster seemingly took exception to it. Branch took exception back, hitting Smith-Schuster in the front of his helmet before the two them and Pacheco went to the ground.

Since then in postgame media, several people have reacted or commented on the matter, specifically on the behavior of Branch. NBC’s Cris Collinsworth noted that a suspension of some kind, or at least some form of punishment, is likely coming for the third-year defensive back of the Lions, while his head coach in Dan Campbell as well as Mahomes were not too pleased with his actions either.

“I love Brian Branch but what he did was inexcusable and it’s not going to be accepted here,” Campbell said. “It’s not what we do. It’s not what we’re about. I apologize to Coach Reid and the Chiefs and, you know, Smith-Schuster. You know, that’s not okay. That’s not what we do here, and it’s not going to be okay. He knows it. Our team knows it. So, that’s not what we do.”

“I mean, we play the game in between the whistles,” Mahomes told NBC’s Melissa Stark afterward. “They can do all the extracurricular stuff they want to do, but we play the game between the whistles, and we thought we played a great game today and we’ll keep this momentum moving forward.”

This was a decent-sized scrum that came together between both teams with what ensued on the field after the game. It’s now a matter of determining Smith-Schuster’s status, as well as how that could impact a likely punishment that’s impending for Branch now.

Brian Branch punch starts postgame fight following Chiefs win over Lions

At the end of the Sunday Night Football matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Detroit Lions, tempers flared. A scrum developed with several players from both sides coming together. Luckily, it didn’t appear that any punches truly landed and there were no obvious signs of injury.