Bears vs. Chiefs: Everything we know about Chicago’s Week 3 loss
The Chicago Bears were embarrassed by the Kansas City Chiefs, in a 41-10 loss, on Sunday. This loss marks exactly 11 months since the Bears have won a regular season football game — and it’s their 13th straight loss.
The Bears are now 0-3, and only three percent of teams to start off with that feat since 1990 have made the playoffs. With the upcoming schedule and how uncompetitive these games have been so far, things aren’t looking great for Chicago after three games.
Despite all of that, here’s everything we know about Chicago’s Week 3 loss to Kansas City.
Final Score: Chiefs 41, Bears 10
Keys to the Game
Justin Fields’ coaching comments: Earlier in the week, Fields made comments on his play, which some took as him throwing his coaches under the bus. Fields told the media that the reason why he has been thinking too much is due to overthinking due to “coaching,” and said that they want him to stay in the pocket. Fields told to the media that he’d “be himself” against the Chiefs, but that didn’t change much. Fields moved around more and looked similar to 2022 Justin Fields, but still, it was a rough performance. He finished the game 11-for-22 with 99 passing yards, one passing touchdown and 47 rushing yards.
Matt Eberflus as defensive coordinator: This past week has been a weird week at Halas Hall. Many conflicting rumors came out as defensive coordinator Alan Williams parted ways with the team. Williams cited “health reasons” as his reason for resignation. With Williams gone, instead of promoting an interim defense coordinator, Eberflus took over the defensive play-calling duties for a second straight week. The defense has seemingly taken a step back. In fairness to the Eberflus, they played one of the best offenses in the NFL – but it wasn’t competitive.
Still no offensive identity: Whether Fields is coached to be a strict pocket passer or is allowed to move freely, things aren’t changing. There is no consistency in play-calling, Luke Getsy is abandoning the rushing game too quickly, and all of their offensive problems are compounding into losses. For this offense to be successful, they need to be able to run the ball successfully. In 2022, they ran the ball more than half of the time. This season, it’s a third of the time. Fields is struggling in the passing game, and with no help on the ground, things are going to continue to be the same.
It was over when...
To say it was over when it started would be too cliche. The Bears started the game off by surprisingly forcing a punt from the Chiefs. After that, it was all Kansas City.
The momentum Chicago attempted to build from their first drive stop ended when Patrick Mahomes hit Jerick McKinnon for a six-yard touchdown in the first quarter to make the game 7-0.
On the following drive, Clyde Edwards-Helaire ran in a one-yard touchdown to add to the Chiefs’ lead, which completely deflated the Bears, ensuing a blowout loss.
3 Duds of the Game
***Justin Fields: This isn’t all on Fields, but with the comments he made this week and then not even passing for 100 yards? Fields had his worst game of the season when the comments he made last week were making some believe there was going to be a turnaround and a glimmer of hope. Three weeks in, all regression. It’s not looking good for Fields.
**Luke Getsy: Getsy has been awful this season. Call it play-calling or just call it a lack of passing talent at the quarterback position, but there’s a disconnect, and that falls on the offensive coordinator at the end of the day. The Bears need to get back to how they ran their offense in 2022 if they want to win a single game, let alone multiple.
*Matt Eberflus: I’m unsure if Eberflus has lost that locker room yet or not, but the effort is starting to die down. It’s hard to keep a locker room motivated when the game plan doesn’t change and a team gets blown out every week. Eberflus is supposed to be a defensive genius. That genius parted ways with defensive stars, like Khalil Mack, because he “didn’t fit his system” for this?
What's Next
After this embarrassing blowout loss, the Bears will host the Denver Broncos, who were blown out by 50 points in their Week 3 matchup with the Dolphins, at 12 p.m. CT. This will be a game between two 0-3 football teams who lack identity on both sides of the ball.
