For some, it will be easy to look at the 29-27 comeback win by the Bears, get too overly optimistic about a rally against the Chiefs backups and forget what transpired earlier.
Ben Johnson won't forget the botched handoff, the penalty, or Caleb Williams holding the ball too long, and didn't. Silly mistakes were for early training camp and not the final preseason game.
“It is disappointing to me offensively for sure because I thought we kind of worked our way out of that," Johnson said. "I am still learning this group as well. This is our first time on the road, and we were going to find out what kind of road team we were going to be. If the first quarter was any indication, it was not good enough.
"We have to get better in a hurry."
Feel like some really stupid conversations about Caleb vs Bagent are going to be had in the next 2 weeks…
— Kev 🥈 (@2KEVlN) August 23, 2025
If being away from Soldier Field is cause for some of the problems the Bears displayed in the first half, when they fell behind, 20-3, then it will indeed be a long season. They're playing the Commanders, Ravens, Bengals, Eagles, Packers, Vikings and Lions on the road this season.
The final game actually deserves a report card for starters and for backups because the reserves played much better. There is no such thing, however. Here is a final preseason report card for game No. 3, the win over Kansas City.
Serious question:
By what week this season will Tyson Bagent be starting for the Bears?pic.twitter.com/gMU83Afele
— FIRST ROUND MOCK (@firstroundmock) August 23, 2025
Ben Johnson joked when told about how Caleb Williams held the ball for five seconds on one play that it was a sign of good pass blocking. Actually, it was a sign of great pass blocking and Williams squandered it. They had good pass blocking most of the night, whether Braxton Jones played left tackle or whether it was Theo Benedet or Kiran Amegadjie. The blocking of guard Luke Newman was above average as well. One of the great developments of training camp and preseason was how well their wide receivers played as they picked up the Johnson offense. This continued, although the starters sometimes didn't come open until late in their routes. Jahdae Walker, Tyler Scott, Joel Wilson, Rome Odunze and Olamide Zaccheaus stood out in pass production. Williams' 116.8 passer rating and 113 passing yards was aided by facing the backup defense—his performance against starters was more modest and it took a great play by Odunze to let him avoid an end zone pick. Tyson Bagent's 128.9 passer rating was keeping in line with the way he played last week. A 106.6 passer rating with five touchdowns for 69 throws in preseason for Bagent against reserves was far bigger than Williams' 122.1 passer rating for 25 throws with two TDs against starters but mostly backups.
WTF is Caleb doing https://t.co/L54NpqXeU9
— TonyThePodBoss (@TonythePodBoss) August 23, 2025
Considering a lack of healthy bodies in the running back room, the effort was far more impressive than their overall numbers. D'Andre Swift showed more on two tough runs for first downs than he did with about everything else he did in training camp because those plays showed he was making progress addressing his one glaring weakness—being unwilling or unable to grind for the tough yardage. And if he couldn't get the yardage plowing straight into a tackler, he vaulted the guy. Brittain Brown's average of 2.1 yards a carry didn't adequately show his effectiveness as a short-yardage runner. Run blocking was adequate, but the emphasis in this preseason game was clearly on passing as 43 throws to 30 runs shows. Falling behind by 17 tends to do that with play calling.
D'Andre Swift doing hurdles: pic.twitter.com/fc4nwKx2KA
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 23, 2025
A very disappointing finish for their pass rush, and it was especially troublesome how they let Patrick Mahomes get out of the pocket to the side and never came close to him with pursuit. Sure, they didn't have Grady Jarrett for his inside push, but Montez Sweat and Dayo Odeyingbo was consistently stymied. Put it this way: The pass rush did nothing to quiet all the fools who think Jerry Jones is going to trade Micah Parsons to the Bears. Nahshon Wright struggled from the start and Tyrique Stevenson let down in the red zone. The Bears can't have that type of shaky man-to-man coverage. It's supposed to be their go-to coverage and Kansas City's speed at wide receiver showed the Bears will have problems trying to match up against faster receiver units. Jaquan Brisker experienced a tough night trying to cover Travis Kelce, so it wasn't all on their cornerbacks.
Definition of finding some work https://t.co/pCsrmmt5BA
— kyle (@Ky1eLong) August 23, 2025
Early in the game their ability to stand firm at the point of attack was questionable. They were being driven back and it showed in Isiah Pacheco's 21 yards on three runs and Kareem Hunt's 5.0-yard average on three runs. The wall at Arrowhead did a better job of stopping the KC running attack than the first-team defense did. The Chiefs had sufficient production from their ground game but if it had been a regular-season game they would have run less because the pass defense the Bears put up was too poor to resist attacking it.
“Describe Isiah Pacheco with one play”
pic.twitter.com/WdohCpV6Xs
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) August 23, 2025
Their kick returns averaging over 24 yards were not great but better than in two previous efforts. The 13-yard punt return by Maurice Alexander was set up by strong blocking. Tory Taylor's two punts for a 51-yard average suggests he is over an issue he had earlier with low punts. The special teams wins ended here, as Cairo Santos had a forgettable night with a field goal miss and blocked PAT.
Cairo Santos you've been degraded to just Cairo until you score 3 in a row once the season starts.
Papi Santos no more pic.twitter.com/xq2QPyQoVL
— Heidi ➡️ Oso🧸 (@Heidiaca) August 23, 2025
Ben Johnson kept Williams and the first team offense on the field after they had obviously been outplayed by Chiefs starters. Saying it was because they hadn't hit the play number yet was a convenient excuse, but it did show a good long-range view of how to handle their attack because it let them finish by experiencing success even if it came against backups. Allen resisted the temptation to show too much with blitzes, the way they had done against Buffalo. Unfortunately, this exposed some of their standard pass rush as being far too ordinary.
“Offensive football is about precision,” Ben Johnson told his team this spring.pic.twitter.com/3stuXjotqT
— Dan Wiederer (@danwiederer) August 23, 2025
A comeback by Bagent and young receivers put a shaky looking smile on the proceedings. Beneath the smiles must be some sweating and furrowed brows regarding the regular season.
Ben Johnson didn’t hold back when discussing the Bears starters and their performance against the Chiefs. pic.twitter.com/SDvbIComAH
— Dave (@dave_bfr) August 23, 2025
X: BearsOnSI