5 takeaways from the Chicago Bears’ 29-27 preseason finale win over the Kansas City Chiefs

The Chicago Bears were in for a tough test when they traveled to Kansas City on Friday night to take on the Chiefs. Their starters ended up getting a little bit of a reality check against the defending AFC Champions before the backups came back in the final seconds to win the preseason finale 29-27.

The Bears starters on both sides of the ball didn’t start Friday’s game on the right note. Quarterback Caleb Williams and the first team offense regressed from Sunday’s win over the Buffalo Bills while Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes made easy work of the Bears starting defense. But quarterback Tyson Bagent and the offensive backups came back to earn an impressive win.

Now the Bears will have a little over two weeks to learn from what happened Friday and get ready for their season-opener against the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 8 at Soldier Field.

Here are five of the biggest takeaways from Friday night’s game.

No answers for Patrick Mahomes

Mahomes and the Chiefs starting offense showed that they’re ready for the start of the regular season Friday night.

The Bears had no answers for Mahomes as he led three scoring drives, including two touchdowns, on the three series the starting offense played. Kansas City should’ve had a third touchdown but running back Kareem Hunt dropped a wide-open touchdown in the end zone.

Mahomes did what’s made him special over the years and a three-time Super Bowl Most Valuable Player. He prolonged plays with his feet and found wide-open wide receivers despite plays breaking down. Mahomes completed 8 of his 13 passes for 143 yards and one touchdown and also rushed for 18 yards.

Yes, Mahomes is unique. But the Bears starting defense didn’t do much to make his life difficult. The secondary gave up big-yard plays as Mahomes averaged 11 yards per throw while the pass rush only hit Mahomes once and didn’t sack him.

“We didn’t feel like we controlled the line of scrimmage very well,” Bears head coach Ben Johnson told reporters in Kansas City. “We gave up some explosive plays. We had some costly penalties and we couldn’t stop them when they got down there in the red zone. So that wasn’t good on that side.”

Slow offensive start

While Williams and the starting offense couldn’t have asked for a better start against the Bills on Sunday, the opposite happened Friday night in a tough road environment.

Williams fumbled the ball on the offense’s opening play as he tried to hand it off and then rookie tight end Colston Loveland was called for a false start. He followed it up with an incomplete pass before finding DJ Moore for a 14-yard pass that was short of the first down.

There was some progress on the starting offense’s second drive. Running back D’Andre Swift became more involved, made an impressive hurdle and helped his team pick up a first down. But Williams held on to the ball for too long on a second-and-3 and was sacked before having his pass to Loveland be short of the first down.

Johnson was disappointed in what he called a “sloppy” start by the offense. The Bears made some of the same pre-snap mistakes they had made at the beginning of camp.

“It is disappointing to me offensively because I thought that we kind of worked our way out of that,” Johnson said. “I’m still learning this group as well, because as we said, this is our first time on the road and we were going to find out what type of road team we were going to be. If the first quarter was really in any indication, it’s not good enough. So we got to get better in a hurry.”

Caleb Williams leads a strong response

After a sluggish start, Williams and the first team offense regrouped to end the first half on a positive note.

Williams looked more effective in the team’s third drive. He moved the ball down the field with short passes to wide receivers Rome Odunze and Olamide Zaccheaus and even picked up 18 yards on a fake handoff run to his left. But the Bears couldn’t get in the end zone despite facing second and 5 from the Chiefs 10 10-yard line.

Left tackle Braxton Jones let his rusher get past him and forced Williams to throw the ball away. Williams tried to fit the ball to Odunze into double coverage in the end zone, but the pass fell incomplete. The Bears settled for a 28-yard field goal.

Johnson said he decided to send out the Bears starting offense on the team’s final drive before halftime because the starters hadn’t reached their snap counts. The unit took over with a little under three minutes left in the first half to gain some momentum to end the preseason.

Williams led a drive against the Chiefs backups that went 78 yards on seven plays, culminating with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Odunze. He completed 11 of his 15 pass attempts for 113 yards and a touchdown.

Williams said he felt that two-minute drill was one the positives they could take from Friday. The first team hadn’t had much success in the drill during camp and it wa encouraging to see it work in a game.

“Being able to talk to the guys and saying to the guys like, ‘here we go,’” Williams said. “This is just getting to that feeling of, if we’re ever down in the game, if we ever start slow, if we ever have these moments and being able to have the self control and discipline for those moments. To be able to go out there and go score a two minutes and we’ll get the ball back in the second half. Go out there and score again and have a 14-point swing right there.”

Lack of air defense

The Bears’ secondary, primarily the cornerback position, was one of the deepest groups on the Bears roster heading into training camp. Friday showed that injuries to key players have taken a toll on its depth.

Mahomes made it look easy with his 143 passing yards on three drives while the Chiefs backup quarterbacks also had success throwing the ball. Kansas City finished with 255 passing yards, averaging 8 yards per completion.

The unit played without starter Jaylon Johnson, nickel Kyler Gordon and key backup Terell Smith. Jaylon Johnson has missed all of training camp with a leg injury he suffered away from the team during the summer, Gordon has missed about a week with a hamstring injury while Smith had a season-ending knee injury against the Bills on Sunday.

Nahshon Wright was placed into Jaylon Johnson’s spot at the start of camp and played the role well. But Friday was a tough day for the fifth-year player on his third team. Wright was called for face mask and pass interference penalties on the same play of the opening drive that moved the ball 29 yards down the field. Mahomes also beat Wright on a 58-yard pass on the second drive.

Three-year starter Tyrique Stevenson also got beat on a one-on-one matchup in the end zone against Rashee Rice for a 4-yard touchdown at the start of the second quarter.

Position battle updates

The Bears might have an answer in their biggest competition of camp. Jones earned his third preseason start at left tackle Friday as it seems as if he’s taken control of earning his starting job back.

Jones looked good for the most part Friday. He held his own against the Chiefs starting pass rush and really only allowed a few rushers to get past him. Theo Benedet earned second team snaps at left tackle while rookie Ozzy Trapilo continued to earn second team snaps at right tackle.

Sixth-round pick Luke Newman also impressed once again, showing that he can be a key depth piece on the line as a rookie. He started at left guard in place of Joe Thuney for a second straight week and played well before moving to right guard and playing equally well.

Undrafted wide receiver Jahdae Walker made a strong case why he should still be on the team after Tuesday’s cuts. He made impressive catches on the game-winning touchdown drive, including the game-winning touchdown, and finished the day with three catches for 37 yards.

Brittain Brown rushed for 27 yards on 13 carries while Royce Freeman, who signed with the Bears this week, ran for 22 yards off five carries as they tried to fight for a final spot in an injured running back room. Both Roschon Johnson and rookie Kyle Monangai didn’t play Friday because of injuries.

Cornerback Mehki Garner defended two passes as he fights for a roster spot while defensive end Daniel Hardy had a strip sack and tackle Chris Williams looked good with a tackle for loss in their final impressions before cuts start.

“We’ll take a look here at the tape,” Johnson said. “It’s tough when it’s the last time you’re in the locker room with the 90-man roster and you know what’s coming right around the corner here. So we’ll have some tough decisions to make.”