KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Can you tell the story of a 41-10 blowout through two passes? Maybe. A massive mismatch — the likes of which is rarely seen in the parity-filled NFL — was evident in the operation of both teams’ offenses Sunday afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Kansas City Chiefs have a two-time MVP and two-time Super Bowl champion in Patrick Mahomes. He’s the magician whose longest completion of a brilliant first half came on play action, with Mahomes buying extra time with his pocket movement and vision and then throwing an absolute dime to wide receiver Justin Watson just inside the right sideline for 37 yards.

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The entire stadium came alive. That was the spark of an 88-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter, one of six scoring possessions the Chiefs had before halftime. And it was part of a day in which Mahomes went 24-for-33 for 272 yards with three touchdown passes, no interceptions and a 127.3 passer rating. That is what excellence in this league looks like.

The Chicago Bears, meanwhile, have a struggling third-year quarterback trying to rediscover his confidence. And Justin Fields was, once again, prone to game-changing mistakes Sunday, the costliest coming on a pass over the middle to Chase Claypool in the second quarter.

Fields couldn’t get enough air on his throw to drop it over safety Justin Reid, who got a hand on the ball, which then ricocheted to fellow safety Mike Edwards for a back-breaking turnover. The Chiefs quickly turned that takeaway into a 26-yard touchdown drive to build their lead to 31 points with a little more than a minute left in the first half.

Game over. Month over. The losing streak continues — 13 and counting now for the woeful Bears.

Bad news: Fields’ desire to play more freely, be more instinctive and turn it loose didn’t amount to much. The Bears needed nine possessions to score their first points and needed a short field to do so, capitalizing on Jack Sanborn’s third-quarter interception to put together an 11-play, 25-yard field-goal drive. By that point, the Bears were behind by 41 points, the Chiefs had turned to backup quarterback Blaine Gabbert and the Arrowhead Stadium parking lots were rapidly emptying.

Fields threw for only 99 yards with a late touchdown pass to DJ Moore. His first completion to Moore, his top receiver, came with less than two minutes left in the third quarter, and Moore finished with just 41 yards on three receptions. The Bears netted 87 passing yards, and Fields’ 11 rushes for 47 yards did little to spark the offense.

More bad news: The Bears defense remains too vulnerable, especially against an offense as high-powered as this. The Chiefs had first-half touchdown drives of 59, 80, 88 and 26 yards and converted 4 of 6 third-down attempts before halftime as they broke the game open early.

The Bears did come up with their first two takeaways of the season in the second half with interceptions by Sanborn and safety Quindell Johnson. But they went without a sack for the second consecutive game, allowed 456 total yards and at one point allowed the Chiefs to score on seven consecutive possessions.

The good news: The Chiefs play in the AFC West, so the Bears likely won’t have to see them again until 2027. And, boy, could they use that break. It was a predictable but still dispiriting one-sided affair.

The Chiefs owned a 312-85 advantage in total yards and a 22-4 edge in first downs in the first half. At that point, the only question remaining was how long it would take Mahomes and Co. to get bored and take their foot off the gas. Mahomes came out with 4:37 remaining in the third quarter. Not a lot of good news for the Bears in their first 0-3 start since 2016.

Extra point: Rookie Tyrique Stevenson and fellow cornerback Jaylon Johnson both left the game, further depleting an injury-ravaged secondary.

Stevenson was shaken up in the first quarter after a collision near the goal line with running back Isiah Pacheco. He came out immediately, returned temporarily but then left with an illness. Johnson injured his hamstring after an awkward fall in the end zone in the first half and didn’t return.

The Bears came in without two starters in their secondary. Safety Eddie Jackson didn’t travel with the team and is out with a foot injury. Slot cornerback Kyler Gordon is on injured reserve with a broken hand.

Up next: The Bears return to Soldier Field in Week 4 to face the 0-3 Denver Broncos, who gave up 70 points and lost by 50 to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. So, yeah, both winless teams will have plenty of incentive to get back up after their respective embarrassments.

Here’s how the day — and week — unfolded.

The Bears will be without starting safety Eddie Jackson, who was declared out Saturday with a foot injury he suffered during last week’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Also inactive for the Bears are quarterback Tyson Bagent, running back D’Onta Foreman, wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown, defensive lineman Daniel Hardy and safety A.J. Thomas.

The Bears placed defensive end Khalid Kareem on injured reserve Saturday with a hip injury.

The Chiefs will be without starting linebacker Nick Bolton (ankle) on Sunday. Also inactive for the Chiefs are offensive linemen Wanya Morris and Lucas Niang, defensive tackle Keondre Coburn, defensive end BJ Thompson and cornerback Nic Jones.

The Bears have been through a turbulent week. Defensive coordinator Alan Williams resigned suddenly on Wednesday. Left tackle Braxton Jones (neck) was placed on IR. And quarterback Justin Fields was the center of conversation after asserting that he played too “robotic” in recent weeks as he attempts to guide a sputtering Bears offense.

After a full day of upheaval at Halas Hall, Bears general manager Ryan Poles emerged Thursday morning to reset the tone, acknowledging the struggles of an 0-2 start and insisting there is no panic in the building.

“First and foremost, to hit it straight on, we have adversity right now,” he said. “Slow start, 0-2, not where you want to be. We’ve dealt with life issues. We’ve dealt with injuries and that’s all real and that’s a part of what we do and what we gotta deal with. The beautiful thing about our philosophy here, our organization is we’re solution oriented.”

A timeline of Wednesday’s events:

Chew on this Week 3 vow Justin Fields Fields made.

“My goal this week is just to say ‘F it’ and go out there and play football how I know to play football,” he said. “That includes thinking less and just going out there and playing off instincts. … That’s when I play my best, when I’m just out there playing free and being myself.”

That was part of Fields’ answer to the first question he took Wednesday, which was a very broad request for him to detail anything he liked or didn’t care for within his Week 2 performance. And the “F it” mentality was certainly there for the next 11 minutes and 18 questions as Fields, intentionally or not, seemingly put his superiors on blast for contributing to the dulling of his playmaking edge.

When asked directly to explain why he has been thinking so much during plays, he said, “Could be coaching I think.” Read more here.

DJ Moore is no stranger to playing under difficult circumstances. During three losing seasons in college at Maryland, he caught passes from eight quarterbacks. During five losing seasons in Carolina, he played with eight more QBs.

As he racked up 5,201 receiving yards while catching passes from Cam Newton, Kyle Allen, Teddy Bridgewater, Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield and others, Moore could have felt sorry for himself.

But he tried to stay humble while remembering he’s a good player.

“That was my whole mentality, staying true to who I am and always being reliable,” Moore said. “If you dwell on stuff and get mad, nothing ever goes good. So there’s no point in getting mad.”

Don’t get mad, get even … more catches. It seems like a good motto for Moore’s career — and the journey ahead with the Bears that Moore really wants to work out. Read more here.

Average yards per game put up by the Chiefs offense since the start of the 2018 season when Mahomes became their starting quarterback.

Over that same span, the Bears offense has six games in which they reached 415 yards, the most recent coming in Week 3 of 2020 when they had 437 yards in a comeback road win against the Atlanta Falcons. Read more here.

Originally Published: Sep 24, 2023 at 6:00 am