The Kansas City Chiefs lost their preseason finale against the Chicago Bears 29-27 on Friday night, but the Chiefs’ starters looked sound.
The starting offense played for three drives, scoring three times and looking like a finely tuned machine.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw for 143 yards and a touchdown, while running back Isaiah Pacheco ran for 21 yards on only three handoffs and a touchdown.
The offense was as efficient as could be — and in large part, this was of that was the performance of the offensive
line.
The unit has had a microscope on it since the disaster in Super Bowl 59, and the play of rookie left tackle Josh Simmons has been the hot topic all of training camp, as well as second-year starter Kingsley Suamataia’s transition to guard.
After a rough game a week ago in Seattle, the unit needed a good bounce-back as well as a confidence boost to finish up the preseason, and they got just that.
Pass protection
The Chiefs have made it no secret to anyone that they want to get back to throwing the ball downfield and creating the explosive plays that the offense has lacked the last two seasons. With the development of Xavier Worthy and the addition of Tyqaun Thornton, it appears the Chiefs might have found a duo of players capable of stretching the field at a high level.
While having speed at the receiver is important for these plays, the protection must be there to give Mahomes time to throw down the field.
The Bears bring a four-man pass rush, and the Chiefs’ offensive line does a good job of holding up against the pressure. Jawaan Taylor and Trey Smith are solo against the defensive end and defensive tackle on the right side of the line, while Creed Humphrey slides left toward Kingsley Suamataia and the nose tackle. Josh Simmons is one-on-one at left tackle, but will have inside help from Suamtaia should the rusher go B-gap, and he also receives a chip from Travis Kelce.
The defensive end attempts to rush inside after the chip from Kelce, but Simmons powers down on him and runs him into the nose tackle. Smith gives up a little pressure at the end of the play, but Mahomes has more than enough time to fire a bomb downfield to Thornton.
Mahomes’ feet were set when he threw the ball, and he was able to follow through with good mechanics.
The quality pass protection continued through the course of the first quarter.
The Bears attempted to bring a few five-man pressures to speed up Mahomes, but the line still allowed him enough time to get balls off.
On the left side, Simmons effortlessly goes into his drive and catch and fires inside hands to shut down the pass rush.
Humphrey and Suamtatia slam the interior defensive linemen into each other, who were attempting a twist and kill the attempted pass rush.
Taylor and Smith are solid on the right side, and Mahomes has all day to find Brashard Smith over the middle.
The clean pockets allowed Mahomes to make quick work of the Bears’ defense, but it also gave him more time to improvise.
On a play that should have been a Kareem Hunt touchdown catch, Mahomes effortlessly maneuvered the backfield while the offensive line gave him a chance to use his feet to make a play.
Smith made it quite clear why the Chiefs made him the highest-paid guard in the NFL.
Mahomes even surprised everyone and used his legs to scramble for a first down.
Mahomes didn’t like what he had downfield, but his pass protection was solid enough to allow him to exhaust all options and then pick up chunk yards with his legs.
Taylor and Simmons are solid on the outside, while the interior trio forms a wall. As the pass rush works upfield, Mahomes pumps a few times and finds the seam to pick up the first down.
Run blocking
The Chiefs’ running game with the first offense was close to flawless, and this was due in large part to the play of the offensive line.
On Pacheco’s rushing touchdown, Simmons displayed the caliber of player he is and why he has all the intangibles to be a special player in the NFL.
The Chiefs go with a zone run to the right side, meaning that Simmons and Suamataia will be responsible for sealing the backside player, who happens to be the 1-technique lined up in the A-gap. Suamataia will have to climb quickly to take on the linebacker and help free Pacheco, meaning that Simmons has to get on his horse to cut off the 1-technique.
On the snap, Simmons fires out of his stance and overtakes the 1-technique, while Suamataia climbs to the playside linebacker. The play happens quickly, but the blocks made from the left side of the line give Pacheco enough room to power in for six.
Simmons has struggled a little bit with run blocking last week, but he seemed dialed in this week and made more than one nice block to open up lanes.
On Pacheco’s longest run of the evening, Simmons made the front-side block on the defensive end that opened up the hole.
With Noah Gray climbing to the second level, Simmons has to use some patience and a great angle— which he does— to contact the defensive end, and prevent him from going back inside. Gray has a good block on the linebacker, and Pacheco blasts ahead for a big gain— and narrowly avoids serious injury.
The bottom line
The preseason is over, and in less than two weeks, the Chiefs will kick off against the Los Angeles Chargers. With new faces all around, the offensive line has been able to build chemistry and cohesion during the preseason, and it was on display Friday night.
