The Kansas City Chiefs dropped their final 2024 exhibition game to the Chicago Bears, 34-21, finishing the preseason winless at 0-3.

As expected, head coach Andy Reid rested many of his starters on Thursday night — including quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Carson Wentz, running backs Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Isiah Pacheco, tight ends Noah Gray and Travis Kelce, wide receivers Rashee Rice, Justin Watson and Xavier Worthy and the entire starting offensive line.

On defense, cornerbacks Trent McDuffie, Nazeeh Johnson and Joshua Williams, safeties Bryan Cook and Justin Reid, linebackers Nick Bolton, Leo Chenal and Drue Tranquill and defensive linemen Mike Danna, Chris Jones, Truman Jones, George Karlaftis, Mike Pennel and Turk Wharton were among those who were out of uniform.

Given the personnel, we decided to forgo the usual rapid recap in favor of some Chiefs standouts that impressed against the Bears:

1. Fullback/running back Carson Steele

Thursday night was a grand confirmation of everything we have seen from Steele all training camp. Initially, Steele was an afterthought to make the 53-man roster. At this stage, he is a certainty.

Steele made the first tackle of the game on special teams and later returned a kick for 29 yards. Special teams coordinator Dave Toub has highlighted an ability to block as one of the conditions he is looking for in a second returner. Steele provides that — and more. It is fair to say Steele will be a four-phase special teamer and a rotational asset to the offense.

With Kansas City’s starting offensive line on the sidelines, Deneric Prince struggled — but his back-to-back failures to gain one yard feed into the narrative that Steele will be Reid’s choice for the last of three running backs to make the team.

Any questions about Steele’s roster status were answered with an exclamation point when he broke numerous tackles en route to a 31-yard gain, following it up with a touchdown on the next play.

2. Cornerback Kelvin Joseph

There’s no doubt that Joseph would want a re-do of his defensive holding call that negated a nine-yard sack — but the fact that he started the game opposite Jaylen Watson speaks volumes about how defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo may feel about him.

Watson needed the reps after missing the first two games of the preseason — and with McDuffie, Johnson and Williams resting, Joseph was chosen over Ekow Boye-Doe and Keith Taylor to play across from him. Given the injury status of Johnson and Williams, the Chiefs will likely need to keep six cornerbacks — and Joseph seems to be trending in the right direction to be the pick.

The Dallas Cowboys’ former second-round pick produced a one-on-one pass breakup against wide receiver Nsimba Webster — and though that wasn’t Keenan Allen or DJ Moore (Chicago rested its starters, too), Joseph got the job done down the right sideline. Joseph finished with the breakup and five tackles on the evening.

3. Wide receiver Kadarius Toney

Toney’s impact on the game was marginal, but we saw a glimpse of his athleticism and explosiveness early in the game with two quick catches for 26 yards. Quarterback Chris Oladokun nearly connected him for what would have been a deep touchdown in the second quarter, but the wide receiver didn’t come back to the ball; Chicago defenders knocked it to the ground.

Kansas City’s wide receiver room is crowded, so Toney might be one of those players who performed on Thursday night with hopes of impressing one of the other 30 teams (we’re not including the New York Giants) who may be willing to part with a late Day 3 draft pick