An embarrassing defensive effort and an abysmal rushing offense were mainly to blame for the Kansas City Chiefs’ 20-27 road loss to the Chicago Bears Saturday, Aug. 25.

What makes the loss even harder for the Chiefs was the fact that Chicago sat most of their starters Saturday, while Kansas City played all of their available starters for three quarters.

Most of the game’s scoring was done during the first half. Chicago opened the game with a touchdown, which was followed by a Kansas City touchdown. The Bears scored another touchdown in the first quarter after that.

The Chiefs started the second quarter with a field goal, and later in the quarter the Bears scored another touchdown and a field goal. The Chiefs were trailing the Bears 10-24 at the end of the half.

While there was no offense in the third quarter from both sides, Kansas City scored a field goal, which was eventually matched by Chicago. Late in the fourth quarter, Litton made a 55 yard touchdown pass to Marcus Kemp, and Chicago wasted the clock until the end of the game.

The Bears were able to pick up 21 first downs, six more than the Chiefs’ 15. They also managed to average 10.8 yards per pass and 4.3 yards per rush, without turning over the ball or even getting sacked. The Chiefs only registered one quarterback hit all game by Rob McCray, linebacker.

The Chiefs also let the Bears convert 6 of their 12 third down conversions.

Chicago finished the game with 270 passing yards and 141 rushing yards, adding up to 411 total offensive yards on Saturday.

Not only was Kansas City’s rushing offense abysmal, but 20 of their 30 total rushing yards came from Patrick Mahomes (11 rushing yards) and Chase Litton (9 rushing yards), quarterbacks, on 3 attempts. Throughout the game, the Chiefs played Kareem Hunt (7 rushing yards), Spencer Ware (3 rushing yards) and Damien Williams (-3 rushing yards) at the running back position, but they together only put up a meager 10 yards on 9 attempts. It is almost never a good sign when the quarterbacks have a better running game than the running backs.

Mahomes did ok at the quarterback position, making 18 of his 24 passes, finishing the game at 196 passing yards, 1 touchdown and a 112.5 quarterback rating. He did not get intercepted this game, which was an improvement from 1 interception against the Falcons.

Chad Henne, quarterback, replaced Mahomes during the third quarter and bombed, only making 2 of his 5 passes for 16 yards. Litton replaced him during the Chiefs’ first fourth quarter drive and did significantly better, going 4 of 7 in passing for 67 yards, including a 55 yard touchdown pass to Marcus Kemp, wide receiver, late in the quarter.

Kansas City finished with 278 passing yards and 30 rushing yards, but were weak with third down conversions, only converting 2 of their 11 attempts.

On a brighter note, this is not the Chiefs at their absolute best. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, offensive lineman; Allen Bailey, defensive tackle; Steven Nelson, cornerback; Daniel Sorensen and Eric Berry, safeties, did not play in Saturday’s game due to injuries.

Another small positive from Saturday’s loss is that Sammy Watkins, wide receiver, finally made his first catch of the preseason after three games. Unfortunately, he was also targeted four times.