CHICAGO -- Patrick Mahomes outplayed Mitchell Trubisky, throwing for two touchdowns and running for another score, and the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Chicago Bears 26-3 Sunday night to stay in contention for a first-round playoff bye.
Kansas City (11-4) earned its fifth consecutive victory and remained a game behind New England for the AFC's second seed. The Patriots clinched their 11th consecutive AFC East championship by beating Buffalo on Saturday. The Chiefs hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over New England thanks to a victory two weeks ago that helped secure their fourth AFC West title in a row.
Mahomes' big game in his first appearance at Soldier Field is just another blow for Chicago in a rough season that began with Super Bowl hopes. The Bears passed on Mahomes when they traded up a spot to grab Trubisky with the No. 2 overall pick in 2017. Mahomes went to Kansas City at No. 10 and won the MVP award last season.
Trubisky has not performed the way the Bears envisioned. And with their playoff hopes already dashed coming off an NFC North championship, they got outclassed by Kansas City.
Mahomes, playing his 30th game, became the fastest player to reach the 9,000-yard passing mark. He was 23 of 33 for 251 yards, giving him 9,238 in three seasons. Hall of Famer Kurt Warner did it in 32 games.
Travis Kelce, already the first tight end with four consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, became the first to reach 1,200 yards in back-to-back years. He caught eight passes for 74 yards, giving him 1,205 this year. That included a 6-yard touchdown near the end of the first half.
Harrison Butker kicked a career-best 56-yard field goal that was the fourth longest in franchise history. He also hit both the left and right uprights on a missed extra point.
And Coach Andy Reid beat protege Matt Nagy in his first meeting with his longtime former assistant.
The Bears (7-8) dropped their second consecutive game after winning four of five.
Trubisky completed 18 of 34 passes for 157 yards. Khalil Mack had a sack, but fans let the Bears have it before heading toward the exits in the closing minutes.
"I think it just comes to down all of us with the details and just understanding that on each and every play, we all need to be extremely detailed," Nagy said. "We all need to understand where we're at and how important it is."
The Chiefs outscored Denver and Chicago by a combined 49-6 in the past two weeks.
Kansas City led 17-0 at halftime after scoring on all three possessions and racking up more than twice as many yards as the Bears (203-93).
Mahomes rolled to his left and went 12 yards untouched to the end zone, capping a 15-play drive that ate up 7:58.
Butker nailed a 56-yard field goal early in the second quarter. And Mahomes hit Kelce for the TD in the closing minute of the half, after Chicago's Kevin Pierre-Louis got flagged for running into punter Dustin Colquitt.
Kansas City 7 10 0 9 -- 26
Chicago 0 0 3 0 -- 3
First Quarter
KC--Mahomes 12 run (Butker kick), 1:30.
Second Quarter
KC--FG Butker 56, 11:41.
KC--Kelce 6 pass from Mahomes (Butker kick), :52.
Third Quarter
Chi--FG Pineiro 46, :00.
Fourth Quarter
KC--D.Williams 14 pass from Mahomes (kick failed), 10:05.
KC--FG Butker 32, 1:40.
Attendance--62,213.
KC Chi
First downs 25 18
Total Net Yards 350 234
Rushes-yards 29-106 22-101
Passing 244 133
Punt Returns 2-10 2-18
Kickoff Returns 2-57 2-37
Interceptions Ret. 0-0 0-0
Comp-Att-Int 23-33-0 18-34-0
Sacked-Yards Lost 1-7 3-24
Punts 2-46.5 3-46.3
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-0
Penalties-Yards 9-71 7-50
Time of Possession 33:24 26:36
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Kansas City, Williams 16-65, Mahomes 2-14, Thompson 5-14, Ware 5-14, Moore 1-(minus 1). Chicago, Montgomery 13-57, Trubisky 6-20, Patterson 1-16, Cohen 2-8.
PASSING--Kansas City, Mahomes 23-33-0-251. Chicago, Trubisky 18-34-0-157.
RECEIVING--Kansas City, Kelce 8-74, Hill 5-72, Williams 3-27, Watkins 2-28, Ware 2-22, Bell 2-15, Robinson 1-13. Chicago, Robinson 6-53, Wims 3-26, Cohen 3-25, Horsted 1-20, Holtz 1-13, Saubert 1-11, Patterson 1-5, Miller 1-2, Montgomery 1-2.
MISSED FIELD GOALS--None.
Sports on 12/23/2019