'We embarrassed our fans’: Khalil Mack says the Bears’ sloppy play in their Week 16 loss to the Chiefs is unacceptable

"Last home game, prime time, it's embarrassing," the Bears safety said.

A few minutes later, Bears outside linebacker Khalil Mack echoed the sentiment.

"You play games like that on TV, prime time, you want to go out and ball, especially at home," Mack said. "It's embarrassing to us. We embarrassed our fans. And ultimately that's unacceptable."

The Bears defense knew what it was getting into going up against reigning MVP Patrick Mahomes. But that didn't make it any easier to stomach the inadequate and sometimes sloppy play that left Bears fans booing during the home finale on "Sunday Night Football."

Mahomes completed 23 of 33 passes for 251 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for a touchdown. He helped the Chiefs score on each of their first three drives for a 17-0 halftime lead. And he didn't commit a turnover, making it three straight games the Bears have gone without a takeaway.

At times, Mahomes made huge plays to extend drives, properly making use of his many offensive tools.

That included two third-down passes — a 17-yarder to Sammy Watkins and a 19-yarder to Tyreek Hill — on the Chiefs' first drive. Mahomes capped the drive with a 12-yard touchdown run. On third down, with outside linebacker Aaron Lynch on his tail, he realized most of the Bears defense had gone to his right, leaving an open lane to the end zone to his left.

Bears defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano warned about Mahomes' video-game mode earlier in the week, and Mahomes channeled it on the Chiefs' first drive of the fourth quarter. Twice with Mack on his heels he completed impressive scrambling throws — an 18-yarder to Spencer Ware and an 11-yarder to Travis Kelce — before hitting Damien Williams with a 14-yard touchdown pass to put the game away.

"He's a heck of a player that does a lot of good things with his feet, eyes downfield, always looking for a big play and just extending plays," Jackson said. "I feel like he did that very well today. We did not do too good of a job containing him, let him scramble for a touchdown and just run around and extend plays."

And there were several other times the Bears helped Mahomes.

Lynch committed a neutral-zone infraction on third-and-4 that gave the Chiefs a first down on their first drive. Roy Robertson-Harris was flagged for roughing the passer to jump-start the Chiefs' second drive, which ended with Harrison Butker's 56-yard field goal. And Kevin Pierre-Louis was called for running into the kicker on a Chiefs punt on fourth-and-4 at the Bears 43 on their third drive. The penalty gave the Chiefs a first down, and they scored four plays later.

"It was definitely sloppy," Mack said. "There were a lot of things we gave them, especially up front, rushing wise, on the touchdown scramble and a couple third downs he was able to extend the play a little bit. Ultimately, it's not the type of ball we want to play."

The Bears were eliminated from the playoff race after last week's loss to the Packers. But the defensive players denied that what coach Matt Nagy called a lack of focus was because they were out of the playoff hunt.

Jackson said the energy was still high. Cornerback Prince Amukamara pointed out that many players have their futures — with this team or others — for which to play. And Mack said he thought it was a surprising showing knowing the defense's capabilities.

The players said they knew the game was important to Nagy, who was going up against his mentor, Chiefs coach Andy Reid. And that made their poor showing all the more frustrating.

"It's one of those things, that you don't really need no explanation to know how (Nagy) feels about the game," Mack said. "That's one of the most disappointing things about this whole night.

"All those (expletives) sting man. But the last one at home, you want to go out with a bang in front of the fans, and that part makes it sting more."

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