KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Some days are perfect. Sunday’s game for the Kansas City Chiefs was one of them. The NFL loves to boast about its parity, its idea that every week is a challenge for every team and its love of the phrase, “any given Sunday.”
The Chiefs, though, were given a gift on their schedule: The floundering Chicago Bears.
Advertisement
The weather was perfect, too, a sunny 82-degree afternoon at kickoff. The Arrowhead Stadium atmosphere is as close as the league comes to that of an important college football game, thousands of fans tailgating with the biggest sensory accent being the smell of barbecue. In a rare occurrence, Sunday’s game resembled a college homecoming, the Bears being the perfect overmatched opponent for the Chiefs to put up their first complete, dominating performance of the season.
The Chiefs’ 41-10 victory — in which they scored the first 41 points — was the ideal game for their offense to fully awaken and show its full capabilities.
“It feels good to get the whole offense going,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “I was proud of the guys.”
Entering the game, the Chiefs and the Bears averaged the same number of points per game: 18.5.
Almost every aspect of the Chiefs offense Sunday was better than their two previous games when the unit struggled with dropped passes, penalties and turnovers. But against the Bears’ beleaguered defense, the Chiefs offense scored on seven consecutive possessions, scoring a touchdown on each of five trips inside the red zone. The Chiefs averaged 7 yards per play before halftime.
“The first two weeks, we didn’t look too sharp,” running back Jerick McKinnon said. “We got challenged by the coaches. We challenged ourselves and we came out and got off on the right track.”
Mahomes to McKinnon! @Chiefs on the board
📺: #CHIvsKC on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/UQdQ05hqXN pic.twitter.com/2tECRh1S27— NFL (@NFL) September 24, 2023
One of the best adjustments from coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Matt Nagy was to involve the Chiefs’ running backs early. A week earlier, in a win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, Reid and Nagy called just two designed running plays for McKinnon and Isiah Pacheco. With 32 total rushing attempts, the Chiefs’ trio of running backs — McKinnon, Pacheco and Clyde Edwards-Helaire — produced 125 yards and four touchdowns.
Advertisement
“For how teams are playing us with those zone coverages, we’re going to have to run the ball,” Mahomes said. “Getting those guys going downhill, it opens everything else. When the run game gets going, that’s when the offense gets going.”
Seven of Mahomes’ 24 completions went to the running backs for a total of 37 yards and two touchdowns, both by McKinnon.
“We said it all week: We’re trying to go for a hat trick,” McKinnon said of each running back reaching the end zone. “We just maximized the opportunity.”
31+ points in a half hasn't happened since the @MiamiDolphins in Week 3, 2023
📺: #CHIvsKC on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/UQdQ05hqXN pic.twitter.com/gn3JROaQvf— NFL (@NFL) September 24, 2023
Mahomes, who was rarely pressured, finished with 272 passing yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions for a 127.3 rating. Early in the third quarter, Mahomes became the fastest player in league history to reach 25,000 career passing yards, accomplishing the feat in just 83 games (Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford previously held the record, doing so in 90 games).
Mahomes’ best completion came midway through the second quarter when he moved up in the pocket and jumped to deliver an impressive 37-yard strike to receiver Justin Watson.
“It was a heck of a way of tracking the ball, staying in bounds and making a tough catch,” Mahomes said of Watson. “I have a lot of confidence in (Watson), and he makes a lot of plays.”
GO DEEPER
NFL Week 3 takeaways: Jets, Zach Wilson struggle again; Dolphins explode for 70 vs. Broncos
But it wasn’t Watson or the speedy Marquez Valdes-Scantling who led the Chiefs in receiving yards. Instead, rookie Rashee Rice had five receptions for 59 yards, leading the team with 31 yards after the catch to combat the Bears’ soft zone coverage. Twice inside the red zone, Mahomes trusted Rice in the middle of the field, a positive sign of the rookie’s progress within the Chiefs offense.
Advertisement
“They brought a new safety in and I was like, ‘Hey, they’re probably going to be in Cover 2, so it’s going to be your ball,’” Valdes-Scantling said of Rice. “He didn’t even realize it. Then, they go Cover 2, he catches the ball and splits the safeties and almost scores a touchdown. I’m glad I can be in this role to teach him things that I know.
“The defense is playing lights out, so it was only a matter of time before we figured it out. This is a step in the right direction of what we can do and what we’re expecting ourselves to do.”
Patrick Mahomes appears to be in pain after getting his ankle rolled on pic.twitter.com/alBUWdIlE5
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 24, 2023
The lone issue for the Chiefs was that Mahomes suffered a minor right ankle injury, the same ankle he injured in January. On a routine dropback, Mahomes delivered a short pass to receiver Watson but was rolled up from behind by defensive end Yannick Ngakoue, who fell to the turf after being blocked by left tackle Donovan Smith.
After the play, Mahomes grimaced while hobbling. Although he limped between plays, he finished the drive to end the half, then returned to the field to start the third quarter, leading the Chiefs to their final touchdown on an 11-play, 64-yard drive.
GO DEEPER
What Steve Spagnuolo is doing to get the most out of a 'young and hungry' Chiefs defense
“It would’ve been fine to play the rest of the game,” said Mahomes, who was replaced by backup Blaine Gabbert late in the third quarter. “If anything, it kind of scared me more, just being that ankle.”
Once Mahomes showed he wasn’t seriously injured, the game’s most interesting subplot, with the outcome already determined, was whether he and tight end Travis Kelce were going to connect for a touchdown.
TRAVIS KELCE.
📺: #CHIvsKC on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/UQdQ05gT8f pic.twitter.com/4g5GmAdot5— NFL (@NFL) September 24, 2023
In an unusual scenario, Mahomes wasn’t the most famous person at Arrowhead. Pop superstar Taylor Swift was in a suite sitting next to Kelce’s mother, Donna.
Wearing a white T-shirt, a Chiefs jacket and her signature red lipstick, Swift cheered for the home team, creating a massive amount of hoopla because of rumors she and Kelce are dating. Mahomes’ final pass, a 3-yard connection to Kelce in the back of the end zone, led to Swift’s celebrating by jumping, applauding and shouting three words: “Let’s freaking go!”
Advertisement
After the victory, Kelce exited Arrowhead alongside Swift as if they were the homecoming king and queen, the couple riding toward downtown in his burgundy convertible.
“She’s a tremendous singer,” Mahomes said. “I haven’t gotten to meet her. But I guess if she ends up being with Travis, then I’ll probably get to meet her at some point. She seems like a good person, so hopefully I get to meet her one day.”
(Photo: Cooper Neill / Getty Images)
“The Football 100,” the definitive ranking of the NFL’s best 100 players of all time, goes on sale this fall. Preorder it here.
