Chiefs Lose Big: 27-to-20
by Laddie Morse
Yes, the Kansas City Chiefs lost by a huge margin in Preseason Game three to the Chicago Bears by the score of 27-to-20. I know, it was only one touchdown difference but the Chiefs played their starters and the Bears played their second teamers including ex-Chief QB Chase Daniel who carved up the secondary like he was Aaron Rodgers. After the game, Ransom Hawthorne said that, “Chiefs are going to pick high enough, in next year’s draft, to fix their CB problem” which may not be far from the truth. Kendall Fuller was the only DB who looked decent and everyone else… well… laid a brick.
Before you knew the game had started, the Bears went on top 7-to-nothing. Then Patrick Mahomes came in and led a drive for a score answering TD. However, Chase Daniel made the Chiefs D look foolish again and the Bears scored to go up 14-to-7 and never trailed again.
For a team, K.C., that was supposed to go into Chicago and make their second team look bad… because the Chiefs Offense is supposedly very good… that scenario just never materialized. The Bears came out of the gates fast and led from the opening bell until they crossed the finish line. The score only looked close because of a late game long TD from Chase Litton to Marcus Kemp who made some good moves and scored on a 55 yard romp.
There are some who want to point out that the Chiefs ILB tandem of Anthony Hitchens and Reggie Ragland played well together: Hitchens had 7 tackles and Ragland had 6. However, Hitchens was in the wrong position at times, over ran plays, or hit the wrong hole. Ragland was working off his bench belly and admittedly was still trying to get back into game shape. Consequently, he showed up late to plays and was also in the wrong position to make some of his tackles. Fixable problems going forward? Yes. However, if we’re going to see an improvement over what Derrick Johnson gave us last season, it may not come until later in this season based upon what I saw today.
WR Sammy Watkins had one reception on 4 targets. That is not a enough. QB Patrick Mahomes over threw him on a long play but Watkins and Mahomes must get on the same page because they clearly were in different chapters of the book in this game.
The Chiefs secondary allowed backup QB Chase Daniel to complete 15-of-18 passes for 198 yards with 2 TDs and no INTs. You can call that, “the Chiefs playing vanilla,” but it’s really arsenic for a defense who can’t afford any more trips to the hospital. It’s hard to see this group of DBs restricting QB Philip Rivers when they allowed Chase Daniel to rip them a new one. Preseason game or not… this does not bode well for game one of the regular season versus the Chargers… or any other game of the year.
Specifically, Safety Leon McQuay looked like someone who should be selling insurance and not taking up space on an NFL roster. CB David Amerson doesn’t look like he’s taken to any of the coaching that Al Harris or Emmitt Thomas have given to him. Orlando Scandrick, signed this week to help bolster a weak secondary, bit hard on a fake by Bears WR Kevin White so that White found himself so wide open could have moonwalked (walk backwards) into the end zone.
Penalties? We might as well get this one out of the way but, before we do, I’d like to make an observation: even if the calls that the refs made against the Chiefs had gone their way… the Chiefs would likely still have lost this game. Why would I think that? Because while the Chiefs had 8 penalties (for 85 yards), and the Bears had 8 penalties (for 66 yards). Not so uneven handed as you might have first thought, right?
Perhaps the most egregious stat involving penalties was: the Bears got 4 first downs because of penalties on the Chiefs. That’s called shooting yourself in the foot. If that was for real… the Chiefs wouldn’t have any arms or legs left at all. Do I think that Tanoh Kpassagnon had a legal hit on Chase Daniel for a sack? Yes… but… he has to do everything in his power to make sure his hit on a QB is can not be seen as “launching” or “leading with his helmet” and he needs to do everything in his power to make that adjustment. Someone said it best when they said, “The Chiefs have to learn to beat the refs and the other team if they’re going to win some games.” It’s just a fact of life, sometimes you have to adjust on the fly. Now, the good news for Chiefs fans is… if Kpass can make those adjustments, we will see a lot more of those kinds of delicious sacks and “freaky” contributions in the future.
Another huge loss for he Chiefs in this game was… they didn’t have a rushing attack at all. The Chiefs only called 12 rushing plays for 30 yards. Now, if you take away the 11 yards that Patrick Mahomes had on two scrambles, that leaves 19 yards on 10 rushes for everyone else. A 1.9 yards per carry average. Yikes! That less than “Not very good.” That’s abysmal.
Mind you.. this was done against the Chicago Bears who are not only in a state of transition with a new staff coming in, but with the Chiefs #1s playing against the Bears #2s… which is essentially what the Chiefs laid on the ground… “number two.”
On the positive side, Tyreek Hill had 8 catches for 88 yards and a long of 28. Patrick Mahomes was 18-of-24 for 196 yards and a TD, with no INTs. WR Marcus Kemp had the aforementioned 55 yard TD catch. QB Chase Litton looked sharp. De’Anthony Thomas had a good looking punt return for 36 yards. Harrison Butker was 2-for-2 on FG tries. Punter Dustin Colquitt nestled a punt inside the 10 yards line. Again!
Is this piece a bit of an over reaction? Well, since the 3rd game of he preseason is supposed to be the last test before the season starts for the starters… especially in the first half of the game… being down 21-to-10 at half time to the Bears second team… I’d say this is not an over reaction.
Now, for the rest of the Preseason, the focus will be on the second and third team players so that the coaches can determine who will, and who won’t, be sticking around after next Thursday evening’s last playoff game vs the Green Bay Packers in Arrowhead Stadium. Go Chiefs!
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