LAS VEGAS — Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes still was rolling around in confetti after beating the 49ers to win his third Super Bowl late Sunday when the Bears sent out a 30-second hype video about them being on the clock with the No. 1 pick in the draft.
These teams couldn’t possibly be in more different places.
No one sees that more clearly than Bears general manager Ryan Poles, who helped the Chiefs draft Mahomes in 2017 and was part of their Super Bowl victory in 2020. And there’s no way Poles could have watched that game and been content with Justin Fields at quarterback.
The Chiefs have the best in the game. And while that comes with a hefty price tag, it’s a massive head start in roster-building. Mahomes gives the Chiefs a margin for error. This was the worst team they had put around him in his six seasons as their starter, and he still won the title.
Whereas the Bears need to get every ancillary decision exactly right and hope Fields keeps the offense afloat, Mahomes doesn’t need it to be perfect.
‘‘He makes it look easy,’’ coach Andy Reid said Monday. ‘‘You narrowed it down to the top two teams in the world, and he’s out there playing like he’s playing in the backyard, like it’s nothing.
‘‘He’s all you can ask for.’’
Reid also made clear that he’s coming back next season, and why not? His job looks fun. After becoming the first team in 20 years to win back-to-back Super Bowls, the Chiefs want to be the first to win three in a row.
‘‘It’d be a neat thing to do,’’ Reid said.
Imagine talking so casually about winning a championship.
Maybe no one will find another Mahomes. He’s only 28 and wants to be the best in history. But the Bears need someone who can be the centerpiece of their roster, like Mahomes is for the Chiefs. There is no viable path to a title without that type of quarterback.
Fields hasn’t been that and doesn’t appear to be headed there.
The Bears easily can find out how the rest of the NFL perceives their upcoming decision between Fields and, presumably, top draft prospect Caleb Williams from USC.
If they seek trade offers for Fields, will anyone give them a first-rounder? A second-round pick likely is their best-case return, and it even might be a third-rounder.
If they engage in trade talks for the No. 1 pick and the chance to land Williams, the return will be astronomical. There’s no doubt the Bears would get more than any team has gotten for the No. 1 pick. The reason a team would give up so much for Williams is exactly the reason the Bears should — and probably will — draft him themselves.
As the Bears lament their sad history at quarterback, it’s important to note they haven’t made a great effort to fix that in the draft. That’s typically where teams solve this problem.
But when the Bears traded up to pick Mitch Trubisky at No. 2 overall in 2017 — then-GM Ryan Pace chose him over Mahomes — it was the first time they took a quarterback in the top 10 since drafting Jim McMahon fifth in 1982.
They’ve tried everything else, from trading for Jay Cutler and Nick Foles to signing Andy Dalton. And Pace’s last, desperate effort before drafting Fields was to offer a wealth of draft capital for then-33-year-old Russell Wilson.
No team in the league has a player like Mahomes, but several have a quarterback who gives them a shot against him. The Texans became one of those teams this season with the emergence of No. 2 overall pick C.J. Stroud.
Those teams, most of all the Chiefs, are solving a totally different — and preferable — equation than the Bears have been. It’s hard to fill out a quality roster, as Chiefs GM Brett Veach has done, when the quarterback makes around $50 million per season, but those challenges are minuscule by comparison.
‘‘They’re finding these guys that they can bring in to play and develop, and our coaching staff is developing players,’’ Mahomes said. ‘‘That’s what great football teams need is guys that keep coming into the culture that we have built here and continue to get better.’’
The Chiefs traded a sixth-round pick to bring back receiver Mecole Hardman, who caught the game-winning touchdown pass in overtime Sunday. Their leading rusher this season, Isiah Pacheco, was a seventh-round pick. Mahomes’ top receiver was rookie Rashee Rice, a second-round pick making a little more than $1 million.
But the Chiefs know Mahomes will elevate anyone they line up around him, and that changes everything. The Bears shouldn’t be satisfied at quarterback until they find someone who does that.
