What a week, huh? As if the Chicago Bears’ 0-2 start wasn’t turbulent enough. Then defensive coordinator Alan Williams resigned. Starting left tackle Braxton Jones was moved to injured reserve with a neck issue. Starting quarterback Justin Fields acknowledged he has been playing “too robotic.” And the team was left to navigate all the chaos with a daunting Week 3 challenge: a road game Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs. Things can’t get much more unsettled, could they?

With kickoff nearing, here’s the inside slant on three notable storylines.

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What if Ryan Pace’s worst fears had been realized? What if, on the afternoon of April 27, 2017, as Pace was fielding multiple calls from fellow general managers exploring the possibility of trading up for the Chicago Bears’ No. 3 pick in that night’s draft, one of those rival execs had become excessively bold, gone one rung further up the ladder and given the San Francisco 49ers an offer they couldn’t refuse for the No. 2 selection? And what if, as Pace dreaded, that team was interested in stealing the quarterback he so badly wanted: North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky?

What then?

What if that feared scenario had become reality?

What if the Bears then were left at No. 3 and forced to settle for a perceived consolation prize, the prospect in that spring’s class that Pace and his front office team had locked in as their second-rated quarterback on their draft board?

What if the Bears had fallen unintentionally into a union with Patrick Mahomes?

We know what you’re thinking. Are we really doing this again? Another visitation of that painful pivot point in team history?

Well, we are doing this again.

Sure, it has been more than six years, 196 Mahomes touchdown passes and 50 Bears losses (including the playoffs) since that ill-fated night when Pace traded up to No. 2 and grabbed Trubisky instead of Mahomes or Deshaun Watson.

But for just the second time since, the Bears are preparing to play against Mahomes, this time on his home turf Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium in one of the league’s Week 3 spotlight games. That has provided another entry point to quickly reexamine how close the Bears might have come to landing one of the all-time great quarterbacks.

After all, immediately after a five-person Bears consortium left their well-chronicled on-campus visit with Trubisky in March 2017 in Chapel Hill, N.C., they headed straight to Texas Tech for a meeting with Mahomes that left everyone involved impressed. That get-together included an on-field workout that further confirmed for the Bears what so many talent evaluators all over the league had deduced. Mahomes was a damn magician with many of the throws he could make ― often off-script and off-kilter and sometimes while looking in the direction of an entirely different target.

“We’re not talking little 5-yard no-look passes,” said one source familiar with that private workout. “We’re talking 40-yarders. On the money. The guy was a freak. (Expletive)! You could see that.”

The Bears did see that. Pace saw it. Director of player personnel Josh Lucas saw it. Coach John Fox saw it. Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains saw it. Quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone saw it. They all talked, after leaving Lubbock, about the arm talent and self-confidence Mahomes embodied.

They talked at length about the value of Mahomes being a three-sport athlete growing up and how he learned through basketball how not to telegraph passes and, through baseball, to make throws from unconventional arm angles.

Mahomes belonged, the Bears execs and coaches agreed, in the top cloud on their draft board, among just a handful of elite prospects they liked enough to draft in the top three.

Still, for Pace, Lucas and several evaluators around them, Trubisky felt like their must-have.

“We felt we were taking the less risky player,” Lucas said last week during an appearance on “Waddle and Silvy” on ESPN-1000. “We knew what kind of defense we were putting together. We wanted someone who had a high floor even if we knew the ceiling was a little bit lower.

“We thought that Patrick Mahomes was a much more risky selection, a more volatile (player) with a greater chance of missing. Obviously we were wrong.”

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Fox, who liked Watson most among the quarterbacks in that class, has admitted privately to loving Mahomes’ skill set but being weary of his 13-19 record as a college starter, not to mention the system he was coming out of at Texas Tech.

Pace and others at Halas Hall — like many folks around the league — worried Mahomes might spend his days in the NFL generating jaw-dropping moments that could fill YouTube montages for weeks while making jaw-dropping “Why they hell did he try that?” mistakes that would ultimately derail his team and get his superiors fired.

Obviously, in retrospect, that was a grand misevaluation.

In his first season as a starter, Mahomes threw for 5,097 yards and 50 touchdowns and was named NFL MVP. The Bears, with great dread, saw the way Mahomes had post-snap vision and processing skill that Trubisky lacked. They quickly realized his ability to make big plays off script was extraordinary and rare. And yes, by the end of 2019 as Mahomes was charging toward his first Super Bowl triumph, the Bears knew they had erred.

“Absolutely,” Lucas said, “we got to that point of, ‘Hey, we missed.’ Now you don’t throw your hands up in the air and hide underneath your desk. You take the situation you have and you try to make it the best you can. For us, once we got to the point where we knew Mitch wasn’t going to the long-term answer, (it became) how do we sustain this and how do we bridge to the next guy?”

Last year, on the “New Heights” podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce, Mahomes emphasized the good vibes he had coming out of his pre-draft meeting with the Bears.

“You kind of have a feeling like, ‘Yeah, I did great there. The way they were talking to me? For sure, if they’re going to take (a quarterback) it’s going to be me,’” he said. “I had that feeling from a couple of teams. And they were one of them.”

That, too, turned out to be a misevaluation.

Pace was all-in on Trubisky and felt he had enough backing.

Perhaps there’s a dash of irony that current Bears GM Ryan Poles was part of the front office in Kansas City when the Chiefs fell in love with Mahomes during that pre-draft process and did whatever they had to do to land him. On the first night of the 2017 draft, the Chiefs traded up 17 slots, giving the Buffalo Bills additional first and third-round selections to grab their forever quarterback.

Shortly after the Bears hired him last year, Poles reflected on the important lessons he learned from that treasure find, perhaps most significantly the need to prioritize the special skills a player has over his worrisome faults.

“Sometimes,” Poles told the Tribune, “as scouts and evaluators, we get stuck on the flaws and ignore what the player can do. That, with (Mahomes), was one thing that stood out. What Patrick could do was make plays a lot of people just can’t. Were there some flaws in terms of technique and fundamentals? Yeah. But those can be coached (away).”

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The Chiefs were convinced Mahomes was, in Poles’ words, “just different.” Furthermore, the Chiefs were drawn to the quarterback’s undeniable competitive edge, which has become fuel for his superstardom and somehow spikes in the biggest moments of games and seasons.

“He doesn’t want to lose. He’ll do whatever it takes,” Poles said. “Sometimes you didn’t see that with Pat until he was in that moment. I remember we were in the playoffs (in January 2020 against the Texans). We were down big. And then boom! He just goes off. That was really cool.”

Cool to the tune of 321 yards and five touchdown passes. Cool to the tune of turning a 24-0 second-quarter deficit into a 51-31 blowout victory. Cool to the tune of propelling the Chiefs all the way through the finish line of Super Bowl LIV at the end of the NFL’s 100th season. What a celebration that became.

Yep. Just different.

A month-and-a-half earlier, everyone in Chicago remembers when Mahomes faced the Bears for the first time in his career. In Week 16 of 2019, he sauntered into Soldier Field and tortured the city in a 26-3 Chiefs victory.

After throwing a 6-yard touchdown pass to Travis Kelce in the first half, Mahomes jogged to the sideline and counted out all his fingers to remind everyone where he was drafted. “He showed them that 10 piece tonight,” Chiefs defensive end Frank Clark said after the game.

This weekend will mark the second time Mahomes has played the Bears. And his coordinator, Matt Nagy, was the Bears’ last coach. So yes, there is high potential for another signature moment or two Sunday. It could get ugly.

The Bears defense has recorded just one sack through two games and has allowed opposing quarterbacks — Jordan Love of the Packers and Baker Mayfield of the Buccaneers — to complete 67% of their passes for 562 yards with four touchdowns and a 118.3 passer rating.

That’s Love and Mayfield. Imagine what might be on tap for Mahomes, the owner of two Super Bowl rings and two MVP awards and labeled by coach Andy Reid as “The Grim Reaper” for the way he handles pressure and adverse situations. “When it’s grim,” Reid said last season, “be the Grim Reaper and go get it.”

Reid and the Chiefs seized their opportunity to go get Mahomes in 2017 and have been in the express lane ever since. In each of Mahomes’ five seasons as the starting quarterback, the Chiefs have made it at least as far as the AFC championship game. Three times he has played in the Super Bowl.

Perhaps the Bears might have enjoyed a similar run if they had somehow wound up with Mahomes.

As for the notion peddled by some that Mahomes wouldn’t have enjoyed nearly the same success had he been drafted by the Bears? “Incorrect,” Lucas said. “He’s transcendent. He’s elite. He could be the best ever.”

For 12 minutes Wednesday morning, Bears quarterback Justin Fields detailed his early-season struggles and his self-diagnosis of them during a news conference at Halas Hall. Fields was candid and direct and expressed his urge to play with more fluidity, to say, in his words, “ ‘F it’ and go out there and play football how I know to play football.”

He wants to be thinking less and playing far more off instincts. Above all, Fields wants the Bears offense to succeed. And if voicing some of his concerns and wishes in a public setting felt therapeutic, then by all means, let it out. Let it all out.

At Halas Hall, any strain between the starting quarterback and his coaches seems minimal. The lines of communication have remained open. No conversation is off limits, and there is little judgment of any feelings that are expressed.

Still, it will be a challenge for the next three-plus months for the Bears to keep the tension and frustration from boiling over if they don’t experience significant success soon. And a victory. A victory sure would help.

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That’s why general manager Ryan Poles’ sentiments Thursday felt notable. Poles has witnessed Fields’ struggles and knows the heaviness they can put on a young quarterback.

“In terms of Justin and his frustration, I mean, the guy has been successful since the moment he stepped into high school football,” Poles said. “So he’s dealing with adversity and dealing with taking his game to the next level through many different situations and changes.”

In Fields’ remarks Wednesday, Poles heard a quarterback seeking clarity and fighting to declutter his mind in order to play fast and free.

“I thought he took ownership of everything,” Poles said. “Our coaches are like, ‘How can we make you better? How can we help you be successful?’ There’s always that balance.

“No one took it personally. We know we all have a hand in our success and we want him to be successful.”

The Bears also are astute enough to understand the strains of being QB1. Fields is 24 years old. He is the face of one of the league’s charter franchises in a massive media market. He is carrying a heavy load just with the football homework on his plate not to mention the weight of the team’s 0-2 start and its 11-month, 12-game losing streak. There’s a lot to manage psychologically beyond just the X’s and O’s and details of this week’s game plan.

Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy appreciates those dynamics.

“I appreciate the fact that what we do for a living is important and it affects so many people,” Getsy said. “The cool part about it is you have an individual (in Justin) who cares that much. As I do myself. And that’s why we connect so well.”

That connection will remain important as the Bears work to fly through the chop they’ve been in and as the coaching staff pushes to mold the quarterback into a more well-rounded NFL playmaker.

Getsy accepts his duties in helping keep Fields in the right headspace as the daily grind continues and as the roller coaster twists and dips.

“Your job as a coach is to connect to your players on a deeper level more than anything everybody in this (media) room would know about,” Getsy said. “Relationship is the key to success. And if you establish that at the beginning and let that trust grow, then times that appear to be chaotic to (the outside world), aren’t really chaotic to us.”

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The next step, obviously, is showing improvement through production. And again, Fields will be asked to do a little bit of everything — from distributing the football to his playmakers to using his running ability as a weapon to keeping plays alive behind the line of scrimmage to then hunt big-gain completions down the field. The daily workload — from meetings to practices to at-home studying — is substantial and doesn’t allow for a lot of time to come up for air.

But Poles has praised Fields for taking ownership of it all, for grinding and working with teammates and coaches to seek solutions.

“In my opinion,” Poles said, “you’ve got a young quarterback trying to figure it out. You have a guy who hasn’t had the cleanest start to his career, (a guy) who last year with our roster had to put the team on his back and do some unbelievable things athletically. Now he gets talent around him and he has to figure out and balance when to do those cool things athletically and when to lean on others.

“That is sometimes a gray place to live in. That takes time. It takes time on task for him to take that next step. And everyone is on board helping him get into that place for him to be successful.”

It’s in there, right? We at least know that much. We saw it on the Bears’ first drive Sunday in Tampa, Fla., an offensive rhythm that propelled a 75-yard touchdown drive for the team’s first lead of the season. That march included a first-snap explosive passing play — 33 yards from Justin Fields to DJ Moore on a see-it and rip-it throw over the middle.

Three plays later, on a critical third-and-5, it was Fields to Moore again, this time for 31 yards as the Bears snuffed out a six-man rush while Fields calmly stood in the pocket and found his top receiver open.

Two plays after that: touchdown. Fields on a play-action bootleg scramble. One yard and across the goal line.

Bing. Bang. Boom.

That is what it’s supposed to look like.

Comfort. Confidence. Command.

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It felt like a window of opportunity was opening early Sunday, a chance for the Bears offense to really get rolling. And then? Well, then the Bears did Bears things for most of the rest their 27-17 loss to the Buccaneers. They went the rest of the first quarter, all of the second and third and into the fourth without visiting the end zone again.

After that opening-drive touchdown, they squeezed just 67 total yards out of their next six possessions.

Punt. Punt. Field goal. Punt. Punt. Punt.

Still, it’s in there. Somewhere. Because with their backs against the wall in the fourth quarter — down 10 and with the sand rapidly dropping through the hourglass — the Bears put together an eight-play, 90-yard touchdown drive to give themselves life. On that got-to-have-it possession, a lot went well and a lot of things worked.

“We just started fast, came out blazing,” Moore said. “And then that led to a touchdown.”

There was a positive gain on the first snap — 7 yards from Fields to tight end Cole Kmet.

“Now you’re ahead of the chains,” Kmet said, “instead of it being first-and-15 with a penalty or second-and-10 or second-and-14 with a sack. Getting ahead of those sticks is big time.”

There was a read-option run that produced a 6-yard gain by Khalil Herbert.

There was a crisply executed screen pass with Herbert busting free for 23 yards with key blocks from Cody Whitehair and Chase Claypool.

There was adversity — an errant shotgun snap from Dan Feeney — and then a quick response with second-and-18 becoming first-and-10 after consecutive Fields completions to Claypool and Moore.

“We got through it,” Fields said, “and we just played ball. We did what we were supposed to do no matter the down and distance.”

Added Darnell Mooney: “It starts with just putting the ball in the playmakers’ hands. It’s allowing us to be accountable, allowing us to make those plays or not make those plays.”

There was tempo. There was flow. There was a positive start that created momentum.

“You can’t just start and be in a rhythm right away,” Kmet said. “You have to hit one or two plays to begin. Even if it’s a 4- or 5-yard gain to start the series off, you’re going forward. That’s how you get the momentum going.”

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Finally, there was a decisive 20-yard touchdown dart from Fields to Claypool that provided a spark and encouragement and pulled the Bears within three points with 6 minutes, 17 seconds remaining.

“When we execute, good things happen,” center Lucas Patrick said. “You try to build that momentum on every play. That’s how this game is. Your margin for error is so small. But that’s what makes it so fun. The difference can be an inch. Or the difference could be a mile. And you never know when that moment is going to be there.”

The Bears’ next series of moments will come Sunday in Kansas City, Mo., against a Chiefs defense that has allowed only two touchdowns and 23 points in two games. The degree of difficulty is again high. But the Bears can draw on some of the positives from last week to fuel them.

It’s in there. Somewhere.