SCOUTING THE OPPONENT

Top players

OFFENSE /QB Alex Smith, RB Jamaal Charles, WR Jeremy Maclin, TE Travis Kelce, LG Ben Grubbs

DEFENSE / DT Dontari Poe, ILB Derrick Johnson, OLB Justin Houston, CB Sean Smith, S Eric Berry

Schemes

OFFENSE / Smith has taken a ton of hits and uncharacteristically has failed to protect the football, compounding regular slow starts. Charles remains as dangerous as ever (5.2 YPC), though he’s getting less than 15 carries each week. Maclin and Kelce are mismatch pieces who’ve yet to be maximized due to poor protection and Smith’s hesitance to attack downfield.

DEFENSE / With Houston and Tamba Hali burning the edges, they get after opposing quarterbacks with the best of them. The Chiefs are tied with the Bears as the NFL’s worst scoring unit, but reinforcements have arrived in the secondary with Smith back from suspension. Poe has yet to regain his Pro Bowl form coming off offseason back surgery.

Weaknesses

Their 19 sacks surrendered lead the NFL by a wide margin, putting the NFL’s worst third-down offense routinely behind schedule. A sieve in the red zone, they’re yielding touchdowns more than 81 percent of the time.

Last time they met

12/4/2011: With Caleb Hanie starting at quarterback, the Bears could muster only a Robbie Gould FG and fell to the Chiefs, 10-3, at Soldier Field.