2-0 Lions not satisfied despite rout

September 19, 2011 at 6:52AM

DETROIT - Perhaps they came against flukes, two teams that built their résumés on soft schedules and aren't nearly what they appeared. Or maybe the Detroit Lions are just this good.

A week after surviving a closer-than-it-should-have-been game at Tampa Bay, the Lions dominated another 10-victory team from a season ago, piling on touchdown after touchdown to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 48-3 at Ford Field.

The 45-point margin of victory was the largest in franchise history.

"We can play better," coach Jim Schwartz said, shrugging his shoulders.

Matthew Stafford completed 23 of 39 passes for 294 yards and four touchdowns, and the Lions took advantage of six Chiefs turnovers.

Stafford threw touchdowns of 1 and 15 yards to Calvin Johnson, 36 yards to Tony Scheffler and 9 yards to Jahvid Best. Best also scored on a 1-yard run and accounted for 123 yards from scrimmage.

The Chiefs had some success on the ground early, but All-Pro running back Jamaal Charles injured his knee on their first offensive series, and Kansas City abandoned the run after two Matt Cassel interceptions gave the Lions a 20-3 lead late in the first half.

Center Dominic Raiola, in his 11th season with Detroit, warned that his team can't be overconfident looking for its first 3-0 start since 1980.

"We have to make sure this isn't like the Denver game," Raiola said. "We blew them out like this, and we thought we had arrived, and look what happened."

In 2007, Detroit dominated the Broncos 44-7 at home to improve to 6-2 -- only to collapse with one victory in the second half of the season, leading to the NFL's first 0-16 campaign in 2008.

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