Chiefs report card: Bears game nets F for pass defense, D for rush offense

The key plays, stats and grades for the starters from the Chiefs’ third preseason game on Saturday at Soldier Field in Chicago, Ill.

The recap

Player of the game: Tyreek Hill made eight catches for 88 yards, and five of his catches went for gains of 10 yards or more, including a 28-yard catch-and-run on a shovel pass on the Chiefs’ opening possession.

Reason to hope: The offense moved the ball consistently, even though they faced second- and third-string defensive players. Sammy Watkins caught a pass for the first time in the preseason, and Spencer Ware played in a live-contact game situation for the first time this preseason.

Reason to mope: The defense again struggled against a group of backups from an opposing team. This time around, the starters for the Bears never even took the field, but their offense still scored touchdowns on each of its first three possessions.

Looking ahead: The starters likely won’t see much of the field, if they see it at all, in the fourth preseason game against the Packers on Thursday at Arrowhead Stadium.

Report card

Rushing offense: D

Kareem Hunt, Spencer Ware and Patrick Mahomes combined to run for 21 yards on eight carries with the first offense on the field. Mahomes runs were scrambles to avoid the pass rush or when he couldn’t find a desirable passing option.

Passing offense: B-

Mahomes avoided interceptions, took just one sack, spread the ball around to multiple receivers — including getting Watkins his first catch of the preseason — and he made overall wise decisions. The Chiefs weren’t able to hit on any big plays down field, though. In fact the longest gain came on a shovel pass to Hill, which he caught behind the line of scrimmage and turned into a 28-yard gain.

Rushing defense: B

The Chiefs did a solid job stopping the run, not including the passing plays that turned into significant gains on the ground thanks to Chase Daniel’s scrambles (48 rushing yards) for Chicago. Through three quarters, they limited the Bears to 82 rushing yards. They came up with a stop on fourth-and-short in the second quarter. However, they also failed to get off blocks on a third-and-2 run that turned into a 13-yard touchdown run for Benny Cunningham on the opening drive of the game after it looked like Derrick Nnadi had him dropped for a loss. The presence of linebackers Reggie Ragland and Anthony Hitchens in the middle made a substantial difference.

Passing defense: F

Once again, the secondary (minus starting cornerback Steven Nelson) gave up large chunks of yards and allowed a second-string offensive unit to sustain drives and score touchdowns. Chase Daniel threw a pair of touchdown passes and was able to strike for completions of 22, 29 and 54 yards in the first half. While the pass rush did apply some pressure to Daniel, it also failed to contain him in the pocket. Daniel rushed for 47 yards, including a 28-yard scramble.

Special teams: C

The Chiefs got a chance to look at De’Anthony Thomas as a returner as well as Tremon Smith. Thomas had a kick return of 36 yards as well as a punt return of 36 yards. They did not have a punt returned by the Bears going into the final minutes of the fourth quarter.

Coaching: C

The Chiefs were able to get a lot of players involved and get several players on the field for the first time in order to make assessments. Overall, the situation called for limited game planning and a lot of the personnel on the field for the Bears who will either not play or not make the 53-man roster. The number of penalties and yards give up (eight, 85 yards) was also reason for mild concern.

This story was originally published August 25, 2018 at 4:23 PM.