Dhruv Koul shares his in-game reactions, thoughts and observations from the Chiefs-Bears game at Soldier Field. Follow him on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.
CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears’ season ended at the hands of the Green Bay Packers last Sunday at Soldier Field. While the loss eliminated them from the playoffs, the Bears still had plenty to play for in their final two games, starting with tonight’s showdown against Kansas City at Soldier Field on NBC’s Sunday Night Football.
The Matt Nagy vs. Andy Reid story line was obvious. As was the Mitch Trubisky vs. Patrick Mahomes narrative. In fact, that one’s been haunting Chicago since last season. No one knows what will happen with Trubisky after this season, but this first matchup between the forever-linked QBs was an obvious prime time treat.
For the Bears, it was all about establishing a winning culture. If they could swing from 3-5 and 4-6 to finish at least 8-8, that’d be huge going into next year. Especially, when you consider the Bears had a slew of injuries, a poor running game, enough misfortune, and awful QB play for a majority of the season. Resilience and belief were key for next season — no better way to build that by beating Kansas City tonight.
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In the end, the Bears got blown out by the Chiefs in a game where they had no answers for Andy Reid. The offense had its opportunities schemed up by Matt Nagy, but Trubisky had his ceremonial bow(out) to the Soldier Field faithful — an awful performance.
I shared my in-game reactions, thoughts and observations from the game below. Follow me on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.
Thoughts and Observations
1. (Pre-Game) Below are the inactives for this game. Akiem Hicks’ injury is huge. Looks like the Bears will trot out TE Eric Saubert in place of Bradley Sowell — let’s see what he has. I also expect Kevin Toliver to play a good bit and rotate with Prince Amukamara. The Bears should balance trying to win with also seeing what some of the young guys/unknown guys have (looking at you, Riley Ridley.)
2. The Bears’ first drive, Trubisky ran it five times. Five! The Bears picked up a first down before Mitch went all Mitch and stepped out of bounds for a loss on third down instead of throwing it away. The drive was stalled thanks to Anthony Miller dropping a lateral that was set up for a big play — it lost 10 yards.
The Chiefs went right down the field on their first drive — converting four third downs, including a third-and-18. Leonard Floyd lost contain on Patrick Mahomes’ 12 yard touchdown run to put KC up 7-0. (By the way, the Bears lost Eddie Goldman on that drive…)
3. Bears down 10-0, Mitch Trubisky rolls out (moving pocket), sets his feet, launches to a wide open Allen Robinson who has a two steps on his defender … and the ball misses him by five yards.
Fans got their moving pocket for Mitch, they got him to roll out. And he displayed his inability to throw the deep ball. Mitch is a liability.
4. Andy Reid is taking it to his former mentee. The Chiefs are up 17-0 with :52 in the first half and they get the ball back after halftime. This is ugly. The defense is running on fumes, the offense can’t do anything right, and the Bears are at risk of getting blown off their home field in their 2019 home finale. Not good.
5. Matt Nagy has plenty of changes to make to his coaching staff this offseason.
6. The Bears forced a Chiefs punt to open the second half. They then drove (brilliantly) all the way to the KC 5 yard line. They turned it over on downs. A couple of those plays had no chance thanks to awful plays and decisions. So, so sad.
7. Khalil Mack has been sensational tonight. His stats will not come close to reflecting his impact tonight. And half of Chicago will ask where he is because they can’t comprehend what they’re watching.
8. Andy Reid is a mastermind. It’s so much fun to watch him call a game and have a QB who can execute it. Chiefs up 23-3. Harrison Butker double-doinked the extra point!
9. Javon Wims has had a forgettable game tonight — multiple drops and concentration issues. He’ll very likely lose his spot to Riley Ridley next season.
10. That’s all, folks. There is nothing left to say.
11. I mean, Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth started talking about the Bears’ retiring PA announcer towards the end. That’s how bad it got.
12. The Bears aren’t likely to have many prime time games next season after this year’s disaster. Not sure I’m sad about that. But if the Bears’ next QB can right this offense (won’t be hard), then they may get flexed throughout the season. The defense will still be top-notch.
13. The Bears end their season in Minneapolis next Sunday. Depending on tomorrow’s Packers-Vikings result, the Vikings could be playing for the division. It’d be nice to hurt Minnesota’s chances for the second year in a row, but after tonight’s terrible performance, it’s not likely. On to 2020.
Early prediction: Vikings 26, Bears 6.
