CHICAGO _ You never know where your mind will go, especially during an NFL mismatch, but here's where mine went:
The last time the Chiefs played a regular-season game here at Soldier Field, they won 13-3, the game's only touchdown coming on a Hail Mary just before halftime from Tyler Palko to Dexter McCluster.
The last time the Chiefs played any game here was two preseasons ago, the last snaps Patrick Mahomes took before his first season as QB1 in Kansas City.
The NFL moves fast, is the point, with unapologetic turns in careers and teams and seasons. The Chiefs beat the Bears 26-3 Sunday night, and it's hard to know what to make of it.
The Bears are not good, particularly on offense, and you have to wonder whether the Chicago defense is tired of having to do the heavy lifting. That's what they looked like against the Chiefs, anyway. Tired.
This was two teams going in seemingly opposite directions. Chicago is a hard place to be a quarterback long on potential, and Mitchell Trubisky is treading water at best.
The juxtaposition between him and Mahomes, part of the same draft class, with Mahomes already one MVP deep in a career that started after the Bears traded up to draft Trubisky, is too much to ignore.
At one point, after a beautifully designed play that left Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce open for a touchdown, Mahomes jogged off the field counting to 10 on his fingers, an apparent reference to being drafted 10th in 2017 _ eight spots after Trubisky.
The Chiefs did not have a lot riding on this game. The New England Patriots' win over the Buffalo Bills on Saturday made it virtually impossible for the Chiefs to secure a first-round bye. The Chiefs needed wins over the Bears this week and the L.A. Chargers next week to guarantee themselves the No. 3 seed, which isn't insignificant but also doesn't feel like a destiny-maker.
They performed professionally Sunday night. The offense carved and the defense continued its strong late-season form. Terrell Suggs played a lot, and proved disruptive. Safety Tyrann Mathieu was terrific, again. Receiver Tyreek Hill was too fast and Kelce too agile and Mahomes too good. The Bears never had a chance.
The Chiefs will be pleased with this win. They will celebrate and they will laugh and Andy Reid will ask them How bout those CHEEEEEEFS? They came out of the game apparently healthy, too, which is as important as anything else.
But there was no season-changing development here. We've known the defense is improved, and we know it'll be tested by quarterbacks who won't miss Allen Robinson two steps behind the coverage on a nicely designed shot.
These Chiefs have bigger mountains to climb, in other words. They proved themselves the better team, and that shouldn't be dismissed, because the Chiefs before Reid arrived they were often not the better team.
But the standard now is about being the best team.
