Mahomes, Chiefs Offense Enough to Leave Scars
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Bears defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano isn't quite young enough to be from the video game generation.
Still, he knows what it is he sees when he watches film of Kansas City Chiefs MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
"It's Madden, you know, times 1,000?" Pagano said. "It's for real. It's not a game-type deal. And he's scary good."
All the comparisons to Mitchell Trubisky and the Chiefs-Bears coaching ties aside, the big difference in Sunday night's Bears game against Kansas City is they have to try to defend Mahomes and have never had to do it.
"I mean, this guy orchestrates that whole thing and he does a phenomenal job, and he looks like he's been in that system for 10 years," Pagano said. "There's no panic. He's rare. He's elite. Whatever adjective you want to put on him.
"The arm talent is crazy. The throws that he makes on schedule are crazy. The off-schedule ones are just mind-boggling, under duress, you know, feet not set, drifting backwards, jumping up in the air, across his body."
Nose tackle Eddie Goldman said there has to be a way to beat Mahomes, or Kansas City wouldn't be 9-3 in games he has started this season.
"You just have to play with aggressiveness, with a lot of energy and try to affect him," Goldman said. "He sets up so deep sometimes and you know you've got to work."
Somewhat due to his knee injury, Mahomes is way off his touchdown pass rate of last year. He has 23 and had 50 last year. His passer rating is off, too, but when 106.2 is 7.6 worse than last year it only underscores how special last year was for him.
Mahomes is how the Chiefs score so many points with only the league's 25th-ranked rushing attack. But playing football like it's playing Madden?
"I've never really played Madden," Bears safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix said. "I've played it in real life.
"He's one of the best young quarterbacks in the league."
If the Bears only had to worry about Mahomes the defense could get after him with pass-rush pressure. However, trying to stop tight end Travis Kelce and wide receiver Tyreek Hill presents problems, as well.
Hill's speed is possibly better than anyone in the league. His team-high seven touchdown catches has been held down because of four games missed early in the season with a shoulder injury.
"Maybe 2.0 DeSean Jackson," Clinton-Dix said. "They call him Cheetah for a reason. He's explosive when he gets the ball in his hands. We've just got to be physical and get him on the ground as soon as possible."
Kelce is the type of tight end the Bears wish they had being a best friend to Mitchell Trubiksy. With 86 receptions for 1,131 yards, he's leading the league's third-ranked passing attack in both categories.
"I mean he's very, very smart," Bears coach Matt Nagy said. "He understands zones, he understands timing with the quarterback depending on what happens with releases and that sort of thing. He gets all of that. He's very football smart, he's competitive as hell."
Nagy said his experience in Kansas City tells him Kelce often ad libs or greatly adjusts his pass routes and gets away with it.
"He ended up putting his own little flavor on certain routes," Nagy said.
The Bears are ranked eighth on defense and third in points allowed, but defending this attack could cause Pagano sleepless nights—if he didn't already have them because of something Chiefs coach Andy Reid did to him while coaching Philadelphia in 2005 when the Bears' defensive boss was with the Raiders.
A 60-yard Eagles touchdown pass to Brian Westbrook on a wheel route still has him shaking his head.
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