Concerns with defensive depth and 4 more things to watch in Kansas City Chiefs’ Week 3 preseason matchup vs. Bears
Plenty of storylines for the Chiefs’ preseason finale.
The Kansas City Chiefs will wrap up the 2025 preseason on Friday night against the Chicago Bears.
Both teams will begin the game with their starters as they look to enter the regular season with a little momentum. The Chiefs sure could use some after an ugly performance last week against the Seattle Seahawks, alongside their preseason Week 1 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Thankfully, not many starters played in that game.
However, a number of players did sustain injuries. Coach Andy Reid has already ruled out several for Friday, but did leave the door open for a couple to make their preseason debuts. With that in mind, here our are top five things to watch for in K.C.’s last game action until Week 1.
Run defense improvement
The Chiefs’ defense got gashed by the Seahawks’ rushing attack last week, surrendering 268 yards and two touchdowns. Key starters such as DT Chris Jones and LB Nick Bolton did not play, but that’s still a bad performance regardless.
Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo stated that he didn’t have the defense properly prepared for Seattle’s running game, and that he want to see the unit play with a purpose against the Bears. If K.C. still gives up a ton of yards on the ground with Bolton and Jones in the mix, there will be real reason for concern heading into the regular season.
Passing attack getting into a rhythm
Patrick Mahomes has thrown just one pass during the preseason, and none of the Chiefs’ top four WRs (Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy, Hollywood Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster) have caught a ball. There’s no reason to panic over that, but it would be nice to see Mahomes get into a little bit of live game rhythm with his pass catchers.
In Rice’s case, it’s possible that Friday will be his last game action for several weeks. It appears that Brown will be a gametime decision as the Chiefs want to ensure that he has no setbacks with his foot/ankle injury. Smith-Schuster is healthy and in the best shape he’s been in over the last couple of years.
As for Worthy, he could quietly be K.C.’s top WR in 2025. Oh yeah, and there’s that tight end named Travis Kelce as well. Kelce certainly doesn’t need preseason reps, but it would sure pump people up to see Mahomes hit his favorite target for a big chunk of yardage.
TE Jared Wiley
One of the big questions on cutdown day will be whether or not the Chiefs will keep three or four TEs on the 53-man roster. If they go with four, it will certainly be Kelce, Noah Gray, Robert Tonyan, and Wiley.
Could Wiley’s performance during Friday’s game be what tips the scales? He was one of the stars of 2024 training camp, but unfortunately tore his ACL halfway though his rookie year. He looked good during this year’s camp, but Tonyan stole a bit of his thunder. However, Wiley is still a very young player who has a lot of untapped potential.
Defensive back depth
Between injuries and disappointing performances, the Chiefs have a lot of question marks within their secondary. CB Nazeeh Johnson (shoulder) and S Mike Edwards (hamstring) will sit out Friday’s game, and S Deon Bush tore his ACL during Week 1 of the preseason.
CB Kristian Fulton missed nearly the entirety of camp recovering from offseason knee surgery. Although he has been practicing and may play on Friday, it could take him a while to get into the swing of things. K.C. needs somebody to step up, particularly at CB behind Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson. One of the more experienced CBs on the roster, Joshua Williams, has an opportunity to make a statement.
Elijah Mitchell vs. Carson Steele
It’s highly unlikely that the Chiefs keep five RBs, and Isiah Pacheco, Kareem Hunt, and Brashard Smith seem to be locks for the 53-man roster. That leaves us with two vastly different players in Mitchell and Steele.
Mitchell brings speed and receiving skills to the table, while Steele provides power and versatility as a fullback. In this writer’s humble opinion, the move should be to keep Steele. Andy Reid is one of the few coaches who still utilizes the fullback position, and Steele can also play multiple roles on special teams. The offensive backfield can get its speed and receiving fix from Smith.
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