Kansas City Chiefs vs. Chicago Bears: 5 Questions and NFL Week 3 Prediction
The Kansas City Chiefs are back at home for the second time this season, and things have taken an interesting turn since the evening of their Sept. 7 opener against the Detroit Lions.
After dropping that aforementioned Week 1 game, Andy Reid's bunch went on the road and played yet another unfocused game on offense. Despite that, Steve Spagnuolo's defense once again stood tall and the Chiefs did more than enough to handle the Jacksonville Jaguars by a final score of 17-9. Now, a Week 3 outing against the visiting Chicago Bears is on the docket and an opportunity for Kansas City to secure a winning record for the first time this campaign is on the table.
What's important to know about Sunday's Chiefs vs. Bears matchup? How could the action unfold? Gene Chamberlain of Bear Digest was kind enough to answer five questions for me to cover all of that and more.
1. Will the distractions of this week detract from the Bears' chance to win, or could it light a fire under them?
GC: It can't help, but then again, when you've lost 12 in a row maybe a bunch of distractions are what you need. It wasn't getting done the other way. Former defensive coordinator Alan Williams hasn't been at Halas Hall since shortly after the opener with Green Bay, and Matt Eberflus has been far better as a defensive coordinator in his career than has Williams, who bombed out in Minnesota when he had that job. Eberflus is handling the defense now.
Fields's comments didn't affect his teammates at all. He never pointed a finger at them, but at coaching, and he's on the practice field hugging offensive coordinator Luke Getsy the next day. What might hurt them is losing their starting left tackle, Braxton Jones, to IR. As for lighting fires, they used that as an excuse for their Week 1 loss, saying they didn't have enough juice. If you can't get a fire or electricity or juice to play your biggest rival after losing 13 of 14 to them, you're not going to Kansas City and finding it to play the world champions.
2. Is this the week Justin Fields gets back to flashing some of the potential he showed last year?
GC: No. It will be the week he runs around aimlessly a lot and tries to do too much on his own instead of getting the ball in the hands of his playmakers like DJ Moore, Darnell Mooney, Chase Claypool and Khalil Herbert. As usual. They might try to run him a little more on designed plays this week to complement their own running game, but not much else will change.
3. Evaluate the job Matt Eberflus is doing in year No. 2 with the team
GC: He is sticking with what he is doing, convinced it will work and not really showing outward signs of panic. He's the type of person who can handle situations like this when others panic because he's basically a calm guy who believes in process. Then again, that's also his problem. He's not showing a lot of creativity or gambling at all, and we all saw this defensive scheme of his way too much during the Lovie Smith era. It worked for a while but offenses had answers to it about 15 years ago. He's a bit too rigid and relies too much on outdated approaches. Other than that, he's doing great.
4. Who's one player on each side of the ball the Chiefs should look to neutralize?
GC: Fields on offense, and in this regard, I'm talking about using their edge players. The defensive ends of the last four opponents the Bears played all bottled Fields up using some form of softer edge play. They "surf" or float around, waiting to see if Fields is handing it off in RPOs or in the backfield. They're not aggressively coming after him at first. He's not running anywhere, then. KC will do this somewhat, as well. They want Fields to make the commitment, and they're not going to get burned by a 65-yard quarterback run.
On defense, they should be trying to neutralize Yannick Ngakoue. He had a sack in the first game and should have had two or three in the last game but for some reason, he treated Baker Mayfield like his uniform was covered in grease and just slid off each time. And each time Mayfield scrambled away for big yardage. The Bears have no other pass rush to speak of so if it doesn't come from Ngakoue — if the Chiefs double-team him or chip-block him — then Patrick Mahomes can stay in the pocket and wait forever before throwing.
5. How do you see this game playing out and who ends up winning?
GC: The Chiefs' defense is the least-mentioned force so far in this matchup. They've been playing dominant ball. The Bears' offense might score their first series because they led the league in doing this last year and scored a touchdown last week again on the first possession. But once they've gone past their first series and the scripted plays, it all falls apart as usual and resembles about the last six or seven they've played — maybe it's nine or 10. They're all so much fun that they blend together and it's hard to remember. Chiefs 34, Bears 13.
For additional coverage of the Bears, be sure to follow Gene's work on X @BearsOnMaven and check out Bear Digest for in-depth Bears content.
