Chiefs-Bears Instabreakdown: Digging in to one of the season’s more lopsided wins

Final Score: Kansas City Chiefs 26, Chicago Bears 3

The Chiefs had a lopsided victory on the national stage. For the offense, it was ho-hum: Patrick Mahomes was on point and efficient. The offense put together three scoring drives in the first half and the defense surrendered a mere field goal. Next week, they’ll go for twelve wins — this time at home against the Los Angeles Chargers — to close out the regular season.

Offense

Patrick Mahomes looked sharp from the start. He managed the pocket well throughout the game, but started early by hanging in to deliver a strike to Sammy Watkins on a dig route for a big first down on third-and-long. Later, he’d connect with Tyreek Hill in the middle of the field on a third-and-18 to sustain the drive. Mahomes ran it in for the first touchdown of the game, recognizing the left side of the field was open after the route distribution drew everyone to the field side of the play.

Penalties stalled the Chiefs some in the first half — especially on a drive late in the second quarter. But they were bailed out by running into the kicker penalty against the Bears, finishing the drive for a score. The touchdown play had an excellent design, utilizing a switch release from the bunched receivers and sneaking Kelce in between defenders with an excellent route that started in the flat. Kelce flipped his hips and got upfield for the catch.

The third quarter offense didn’t get much going. After trying to run the ball a little more, they were forced to punt twice. The play-calling was very much Andy-Reid-with-a-lead — and the results showed it.

But the start of the fourth quarter was different. An aggressive play-action shot netted a 19-yard completion to Hill on a curl route. Mahomes was sharp on the drive, converting three key third downs. One was down the sideline to Spencer Ware; another was a shoot route to Damien Williams for a touchdown.

Defense

On the first drive, the Bears offense was almost entirely Mitchell Trubisky running on zone reads or out of his pass drop. Early in the game, the Bears shot themselves in the foot a few times — but the Chiefs capitalized. Terrell Suggs got a pressure on his first snap of the game, chasing Trubisky out of the pocket and nearly coming up with a sack; Frank Clark ended up pushing the quarterback out of bounds to collect it.

The Chiefs spent most of the game in dime personnel. On a third-and-8, Juan Thornhill did a great job closing on Anthony Miller to make an excellent tackle for a minimal gain. In the second half — while the game was still in reach — the Bears adjusted. In the third quarter, the defense gave up a lot of yards on the ground in dime personnel. But they tightened up in goal-to-go, preventing a score when Charvarius Ward broke up a fade route to Allen Robinson on fourth-and-goal.

The Chiefs got one other sack on the game. It was on a CAT blitz in the fourth quarter from Bashaud Breeland — who timed it well, but couldn’t bring Trubisky down. Chris Jones was there to clean up the play.

The Bears didn’t provide much resistance, but the Chiefs defense held them to their lowest output of the season — tied with their Week 1 home loss to the Green Bay Packers.