Steele flashes again before Chiefs fall flat against Bears in final preseason game

Undrafted rookie running back Carson Steele puts up another dominant performance, but it is not enough for the Chiefs to capture their first preseason win.

The next time the Kansas City Chiefs suit up, it will be the NFL’s season opener to kick off its 105th season. The preseason is officially over, and the Chiefs now have four days to trim their roster from 90 to 53 after getting beat down by the Chicago Bears, 34 to 21. It was not pretty, but Chiefs head coach Andy Reid knows how valuable this evaluation period is, regardless. 

“We had some good snaps in here,” Reid said. “The best part was that we were able to get all the guys in there to have an opportunity to play and put it on tape where Brett (Veach) can evaluate it here tomorrow and for the next couple of days.”

Kansas City finished exhibition play winless, taking losses to the Bears, Detroit Lions and Jacksonville Jaguars. As we all know, the win-loss column does not matter one iota, but individual performance certainly does. Other than rookie running back Carson Steele, who we already knew was on his way to the 53, no one particularly stood out in their final preseason game. 

At one point the Chiefs were down 34-7, but that was through no fault of Steele. The UCLA and Ball State product found the endzone for the second time in three games while gaining 50 yards on just four carries. He had a long of 31 yards where it seemed no one was bringing him down and also punched the ball in for a touchdown one yard out. He also stood out on special teams, finishing with three tackles and had a 29-yard kick return to solidify his place on the team. 

“We'll evaluate it, but he looked good tonight,” Reid said. “(He’s a) physical kid and I know the guys were excited when he was carrying it, but we'll see. He's a good football player. People didn't look like they really wanted to tackle him so that's a that's a plus if you're a running back.”

After coming in with a 78 percent completion percentage and 184 yards through the first two preseason games, starting quarterback Chris Oladokun struggled in this one. He went nine for 16 with no touchdowns and two interceptions. The first interception came inside the opponent's 10-yard line after the Chiefs’ punt coverage team recovered a muffed punt. The second was a pick-six and by the time that happened, it was 20-7 with 22 seconds left in the first half. 

Chicago then scored two third-quarter touchdowns before the Chiefs had a late surge in the fourth quarter, scoring two touchdowns of their own. Both of those touchdowns were thrown by Ian Book, with one going to Cornell Powell, who hauled in his second touchdown in as many weeks. The other went to Texas Tech rookie, Baylor Cupp for his only catch on the evening. Powell wrapped up his strong preseason performance with two catches for 16 yards against the Bears. 

Coming into the game running back Deneric Prince, Justyn Ross, Nikko Remigio and Irv Smith Jr. were all battling for the final two or so roster spots and none of them particularly stood out. While blocking was visibly not great in the one series Prince saw, he finished with three carriers for negative one yards. Although it could say something about his roster spot in the fact that he only saw one series. Prince did not return a kick against Chicago either. 

Ross and Remigio each hauled in two catches, with Ross going for 16 and Remigio only gaining one yard. Remigio was the best kick returner on the evening, however, going for 42 yards on one and 29 on the other. Other than Remigio, Mecole Hardman, Montrell Washington, Louis Rees-Zammit and Skyy Moore all returned a kick Thursday night, and all were successful. 

The polarizing wide receiver, Kadarius Toney, actually led the team in receiving throughout much of the game, totaling 26 yards on two catches, until Washington brought in a 49-yarder late in the fourth quarter from Book. Toney had a nice punt return as well. Smith Jr. finished with just one catch for three yards. It is anyone’s guess as to who those final skilled position player spots are going to go to. 

Offensively, the only other thing of note was second-year left tackle, Wanya Morris going down with a knee injury. Reid deemed it a “re-tweak” from an injury earlier in training camp but that is something to keep an eye on with the Chiefs not having an established third offensive tackle other than the Oklahoma product. 

Much like the rest of the preseason, the defense was dominated again, albeit with a lot of backups in the game. There were a few players who had nice games, however. 2024 seventh-round rookie cornerback Kamal Hadden recovered a fumble that safety Tyree Gillespie forced out. 

Given that veteran cornerback Jaylen Watson had not been able to suit up in a game this August, Reid opted to put him out there. It was mixed results in coverage, but he did lead the team with seven tackles. Rookie safety standout Jaden Hicks, cornerback Kelvin Joseph and Watson all ended with a pass defense and combined for 16 tackles between the four of them. Hicks also made a tackle for a loss. It is also very much up in the air as to who will win the cornerback two position and who will make the team after Trent Mcduffie, Watson, Joshua Williams and Nazhee Jonson, for that matter. 

2023 first-rounder Felix Anudike-Uzomah had a solid showing with four tackles and registering a hit on the quarterback. With Cole Christiansen, Cam Jones and Curtis Jacobs all battling for the final one to two linebacker spots, Christiansen probably stood out most among them. 53-man hopeful, defensive end Truman Jones did not participate against the Bears. 

As far as the kicking games go, punter Matt Araiza had another strong performance. He once again showed off his prowess for placing balls inside the 20, kicking three out of four of them in that area. Nine of his 14 punts thus far have been pinned inside the 20. Kicker Harrison Butker missed his lone field goal, but it was narrowly missed, and it was 59 yards out. Hicks was the one that recovered the muffed punt. 

The biggest news of the day did not take place on the football field when it was reported that fourth-year center Creed Humphrey signed a four-year extension with Kansas City. ESPN’s Adam Schefter posted on X that it was a deal worth $72 million, which would have him with the Chiefs through his age 29 season and it makes him the highest-paid center of all time. The extension was reported right around the same time as kickoff. 

“He's a heck of a football player, real good football player,” Reid said. “You know, he started off that way and he's kept it going that way, so we appreciate all he does.”

The next item on the Chiefs' agenda is getting their rosters trimmed down to 53 by Tuesday, August 27th at 3 p.m. CDT. Obviously, that date is important to when Chiefs Kingdom will find out who made the team, but it also marks a deadline where the Chiefs will have a time to scour other team's rosters to fill out their potential holes at running back, defensive end and cornerback. 

After that, they will have nine more days to prepare to take on the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday, September 5th at 7:20 p.m. CDT. With the healthy crowd that turned out in week three of the preseason, Reid knows Chiefs Kingdom will be ready to rock against Baltimore at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. 

“I was shocked when I walked out there for a third preseason game when your starters aren't playing. I mean, they were on fire, so it was great to see everybody out there,” Reid said. “We look forward to the Ravens game coming up here in a couple weeks and we know this place will be geared up and ready to go.”