Why was Chiefs lineman so fired up vs. Bears? He (and Mahomes) explained afterward

Donovan Smith raised his arms above his head, then violently ripped them down, raising his head to scream enthusiastically toward the Chiefs’ sideline.

This wasn’t after a touchdown. Nor was it after a game-deciding play in the fourth quarter.

The Kansas City Chiefs’ left tackle, instead, was celebrating a 13-yard run in the second quarter of KC’s eventual 41-10 home victory Sunday over the Chicago Bears.

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So what was going through his mind?

“Just excited for the run,” Smith said with a smile, watching a replay of the video on a phone in the Chiefs’ locker room. “Just wanted to get more runs called, and we busted a big one.”

The highlight was part of a performance where the Chiefs showed their most success in an area where they’d struggled most of the season: run blocking.

KC mustered just 3.5 yards per carry in the opener, with quarterback Patrick Mahomes leading the team in rushing. The Chiefs also had just two designed runs out of 26 first-half run plays last week against Jacksonville, almost exclusively going to the air before attempting some more runs late.

If Smith and the rest of the offensive linemen wanted to see more rushes called, they needed to prove to the coaches that those plays would have a better chance of working.

The best evidence of that came Sunday, as KC posted a season-high in rushing yards (153) while averaging 5.4 yards per carry while it was still competitive in the first half.

“Just as an O-line, you want to be able to run the ball,” Smith said. “It just opens up everything else in the pass game.”

Mahomes, if you were wondering, agrees with that assessment.

The Chiefs QB has spoken each of the last two weeks about the team struggling to pass against zone defenses. It’s a similar issue to what Mahomes and the Chiefs faced at the end of the 2021 season, when Cincinnati mostly dropped eight into coverage in a 27-24 Bengals victory that sent them to the Super Bowl.

So how did KC counter that the next year? Not only did it bring in a zone-beating receiver in free agent JuJu Smith-Schuster, but it also put a greater emphasis on beating up teams that dropped their players into coverage.

The Chiefs became more physical with their run game. They boosted their usage of two-tight end sets, and they added bruising running back Isiah Pacheco in the seventh round to complete a run game that could punish defenses if they played light.

KC hadn’t found that same sort of punch-you-in-the-mouth stride in this 2023 season yet — partly because tackles Smith and Jawaan Taylor were new to the team and not performing to their predecessors’ standards in that particular regard.

That, of course, was until Sunday, when the Chiefs were the aggressor in the run game from the start.

“For how teams are playing us, those zone coverages, we’re going to have to run the football,” Mahomes said. “So to be able to get those guys going downhill, making the run plays, it opens up everything else.”

Mahomes went a step further during his time at the microphone postgame. He said when the Chiefs’ run game gets going, “that’s when the offense gets going.”

“People see the high-flying, they see the throws and stuff like that,” Mahomes said. “But that physicality you have in the run game, that’s what takes the offense over the top.”

The Chiefs reaped many of the benefits from that Sunday.

Isiah Pacheco and Clyde Edwards-Helaire each had rushing touchdowns. Jerick McKinnon had two scores of his own, with one coming on a short screen play basically functioning as a run.

McKinnon boasted afterward that the RB room had accomplished a “hat trick,” with each of the three getting into the end zone.

Chiefs right guard Trey Smith said one of the biggest keys for the O-line was keeping things cleaner. The team reduced its penalties from a week ago, while also better executing its blocking assignments.

From there, it was all about having an aggressive mentality.

“I think we always want to be physical, especially as offensive linemen,” Trey Smith said. “We talk about making pass rushers earn the right to rush the passer, so you put them in a deficit where they’re getting beat up, pounded in the run game, a little bit more tired when they rush the passer.”

The Chiefs’ grind on the Bears’ defensive line resulted in some chunk gains Sunday, including one that fired up Donovan Smith with his screaming after the play.

While watching a video of that play in the locker room, Pacheco couldn’t help but yell out his satisfaction with what he saw on the screen as well.

That was Donovan Smith, a few yards downfield, maintaining his block on Bears defensive lineman Justin Jones.

“That right there ... that shows finish,” Pacheco said. “Coach always talks about finishing and finding the edge.

“And right there, that shows one of my teammates finishing and showing passion for the game.”