Patrick Mahomes leads Chiefs to 51-31 victory against Texans in Ryan Pace Bowl

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It must have been the side-armed slings and spontaneous flip passes in Patrick Mahomes’ repertoire that deterred the Bears. He’s so unorthodox.

Or maybe it was his thicker physique, which makes it more accurate to describe him as ‘‘chugging’’ rather than running when he escapes the pocket.

Whatever the turnoff was for general manager Ryan Pace, he watched Mahomes do all those things to perfection in the Chiefs’ 51-31 romp Sunday against the Texans. It was everything the Bears have missed since . . . well, ever.

After the Chiefs fell behind 24-0 in the second quarter, Mahomes erased the deficit with four touchdown passes in a span of nine minutes. He ripped the Texans for 41 consecutive points, and the Chiefs led comfortably early in the third quarter.

‘‘We didn’t want to be in that spot,’’ Mahomes said. ‘‘But the biggest thing I was preaching to the team was, ‘Let’s go do something special.’ ’’

He never flinched. He knew the situation was dire — ‘‘You don’t win a lot of those games,’’ he said — but he stayed cool. He rolled up 321 yards and five touchdown passes for a 134.6 rating, and the Chiefs apologized on their videoboards for running out of celebratory fireworks in the fourth quarter.

It was the ultimate ‘‘Be You’’ performance by the ultimate ‘‘Be You’’ quarterback, to steal Bears coach Matt Nagy’s credo. Nagy was with the Chiefs when they fell for this unconventional prospect from Texas Tech and was instrumental in refining — not reshaping — Mahomes’ rare skills.

‘‘Don’t get it twisted,’’ Nagy said before Mahomes skipped into Soldier Field, blew out the Bears and taunted Pace by counting to 10 after a touchdown pass last month. ‘‘He’s still doing a lot of what he did in college. . . . He’s good at it.’’

It was such an exhilarating duel between Mahomes and Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson that it felt like a different sport compared to the nap-inducing games Bears fans endured this season.

There’s a chasm between the Bears nervously hoping 17 points will be enough and Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill dismissing a 24-point deficit by saying, ‘‘It don’t matter if it’s 100-0.’’ Mahomes almost could make you believe that.

‘‘I do not think any lead is safe versus these guys,’’ Texans coach Bill O’Brien said.

The next person to say that about the Bears will be the first.

What an ambivalent viewing experience it was for Chicagoans — so easy to get caught up in the thrills but so hard to suppress jealous rage.

You see Mahomes sailing effortlessly from down 24 to up 20 and wonder how the Bears could have missed this. Even in defeat, you see Watson maneuvering in the pocket and firing for 13 yards on third-and-11 and wonder how they could have missed him, too.

Pace had his pick and wanted neither. Mitch Trubisky was his ‘‘no regrets’’ choice, and he had no idea the mistake he had made as the Chiefs and Texans snatched up their franchise-changers at Nos. 10 and 12, respectively.

Pace still has no idea, actually, though this game should have illuminated it for him like a solar flare.

Just two weeks ago, he said it was too early to make a ruling on that draft. Everyone develops at different speeds, he said, and some situations are more advantageous than others.

But no clear-minded person thinks Trubisky would be at this level had he landed with the Chiefs or Texans instead. And there’s little doubt Mahomes or Watson would have risen above Bears’ dysfunction. They are irrepressible talents.

Mahomes won this round, but there will be more. He and Watson aren’t going anywhere. Mahomes moved one step closer to the Super Bowl, and Watson has every reason to think he’ll get a few more cracks at it.

And the Bears? They’ll be miles away until they find their own version of Mahomes or Watson — something Pace could’ve done three years ago.