Chiefs' offense flexes true strength for first time in 2023 against Bears

The Kansas City Chiefs dominated the Chicago Bears on both sides of the ball on Sunday in a 41-10 victory that, almost unbelievably, wasn't even that close. Patrick Mahomes ended his day after the team's final touchdown drive—the first drive of the third quarter—which culminated in a touchdown pass to Travis Kelce. The score pushed the deficit to 41-0 in favor of the Chiefs, and from that point on Andy Reid called off the dogs. The Bears were then able to put 10 garbage time points on the Chiefs in the fourth quarter.

While Chicago was dealing with adversity across the board coming into this game, Kansas City was exactly as dialed in as fans could have hoped. One could argue that the Bears were victims of multiple distractions over the course of the week leading up to this showdown with the Chiefs, but no one could argue that they didn't fall completely victim to a Chief offensive barrage that left Chicago looking like a homecoming opponent on the wrong end of a college football beatdown. The Bears left Kansas City with more questions than they had when they arrived, but the Chiefs have found a groove that can carry them into the meat of their 2023 schedule.

This was not an offensive onslaught like we've seen in the past from the Chiefs. Mahomes didn't throw for 500 yards and 5 touchdowns. Travis Kelce did not have 10 catches and 4 scores himself. In fact, not a single pass catcher totaled more than Kelce's 69 yards. This version of the Kansas City offense may not be the most eye-popping, but it is almost certainly the most lethal to opponents hoping to knock the Chiefs off of their perch atop the NFL.

The Chiefs on Sunday were balanced and efficient, and the offense as a whole played almost mistake-free. This iteration of the Kansas City offense is what we had been looking for after two mentally and emotionally perplexing affairs with the Detroit Lions and Jacksonville Jaguars to start the season. From the first snap on Sunday, it was apparent that Andy Reid, Matt Nagy, and the Chiefs offense had dialed in precisely where they needed to point this unit to find immediate success—and for long-term success heading into the remainder of 2023.

After punting on the opening drive punt, the Kansas City offense rattled off 7 consecutive scoring drives with 4 different players accounting for the team's 5 touchdowns. Isiah Pacheco (15 carries for 62 yards) and Clyde Edwards-Helaire (15 carriers for 55 yards) both reached paydirt on the ground, and Jerick McKinnon (2 TDs on 5 total touches) and Kelce each reached the end zone through the air. On the day, Mahomes found 10 different receivers on his 24 completions and totaled 272 yards and 3 touchdowns. It was not the biggest statistical game of his career but had the feeling of an important performance we will bookmark once we find out where the 2023 campaign ends up.

The gameplan and play calling in Week 3 were a masterclass in efficiency led by Reid and executed by Mahomes, who continue to prove they are one of (if not the) most prolific coach-quarterback combinations the league has ever seen. Kansas City attempted 38 passes on the day for a total of 303 yards and attempted 37 rushes for 153 yards. The flow of the deployment of this week's strategy had Chicago's defense so perplexed that they often left key players—including Travis Kelce—completely unguarded. The Chiefs threw a variety of formations, pre-snap motions, and personnel packages at Chicago who will likely bury the film of this game once they return to the Windy City.

For all the questions and opinions about the Chiefs finding offensive balance going into a game where they would be heavily favored against Chicago, they silenced the critics by acing this test. Pacheco, McKinnon, and Edwards-Helaire were involved early and often, and establishing the run created a more aggressive and confident mindset for the offensive line. Outside of a couple of extremely questionable penalties called on Jawaan Taylor, the offensive line played their best game so far in 2023.

One of the side effects of the Chiefs' continued dominance in the Mahomes era has been that blowout wins and historical benchmarks have become somewhat commonplace. Several of those routinely spectacular accomplishments occurred on Sunday, including head Coach Andy Reid moving into fourth place on the NFL's all-time head coaching wins list and Patrick Mahomes becoming the quickest quarterback in NFL history to reach the 25,000 passing yard plateau.

Mahomes now sits 81st all-time in league history in career passing yards, sitting right behind Dolphins legend and NFL Hall of Famer Bob Griese who he will likely surpass along with Washington Redskins Hall of Famer Joe Theismann next week against the New York Jets. Mahomes will also likely surpass the 200 career passing TD benchmark next week, as he reached 199 this week with his final TD pass to Kelce. For context, that tied him with Phil Simms (164 career games played) and Alex Smith (174 career games played), but Mahomes has done this all in just 83 career games.

But if you've been paying attention for the last 6 years it should be no surprise that Mahomes is once again making historic feats look routine. Much like the Chiefs made an absolute offensive clinic look organic in Week 3 against Chicago, Reid, Mahomes, and Kelce have somehow numbed us to the greatness that we're witnessing on a week-to-week basis. We've come to expect spectacular feats from these three, and while we can expect more records to fall and likely more trophies to add to the cases at 1 Arrowhead Drive, we shouldn't forget to appreciate what we're witnessing, just like we shouldn't forget to appreciate that it looks like the Chiefs offense in 2023 has finally arrived.