By Nancy Armour
AP Sports Writer
Sunday, September 12, 1999; 4:23 p.m. EDT

CHICAGO – Forget those boring, predictable old Chicago Bears who ran the ball all day and always managed to find a way to lose.

New coach Dick Jauron has the Bears looking like they should be in the Western Athletic Conference instead of the black-and-blue division. And instead of folding when challenged, Chicago found a way to win.

Shane Matthews threw for 245 yards and two touchdowns in his first NFL start, Curtis Enis somersaulted into the end zone and the defense thwarted two Kansas City scoring chances in the last 9:35 Sunday as the Bears held on to beat the Chiefs 20-17.

Jauron won the matchup of the rookie coaches. Gunther Cunningham will have to wait at least another week to get his first victory.

After scoring on every possession of the first half, Chicago turned into the Bears of old after halftime. Elvis Grbac hit Derrick Alexander with an 86-yard touchdown reception to cut the Bears lead to 20-10 with 5:01 left in the third quarter.

The Chiefs got another chance when Glyn Milburn fumbled the kickoff return and Robert Williams recovered it, giving Kansas City the ball at the Chicago 23. But Grbac threw to Andre Rison in the end zone even though Derrick Alexander was open, and Tom Carter broke up what would have been a touchdown.

The Bears advanced to the Chiefs 6, but as Matthews went back to throw, the ball slipped out of his hand and Donnie Edwards picked it up. He rumbled 79 yards for the touchdown, cutting the Bears lead to 20-17 with 12:24 left.

Chicago challenged the call, claiming Matthews was already going forward and it should have been an incomplete pass. But after reviewing the play, referees disagreed and let the touchdown stand. Instant replay returned to the NFL this season after an eight-year absence.

The Chiefs got to the Bears 41 and 47 on their next two possessions, but were forced to punt both times and were pinned to the 4-yard line on Todd Sauerbrun's 47-yard punt on their last possession.

Grbac, who was 20-of-42 for 283 yards, missed his last eight passes.

Matthews was 25-of-38 for 245 yards. Enis caught five passes for 69 yards, and rushed for another 64 yards.

Ever since Jauron hired former Louisiana Tech coach Gary Crowton as his offensive coordinator, the talk was all about what kind of wacky, high-octane offense the Bears were going to run. Especially since Matthews, who'd been cut four times by the Bears alone, was starting over rookie Cade McNown.

But Crowton's offense and Matthews' arm worked fine. Pretty entertaining, too. They lined up five wideouts, ran reverses galore, used the shotgun and threw to Enis almost as often as Curtis Conway. There were dumpoffs and short slants. There were end-arounds and screens. Chicago had 229 yards of total offense in the first half – almost as much as they had in some games last year.

Any doubts these Bears were going to be different were erased on their first series. On second-and-10 from the 10-yard line, Matthews hit Enis on a short dump-off and Enis hustled up the middle. Just before he reached the goal line, he jumped up and did a somersault over the goal line for the touchdown.

Jauron made good on his promise to get McNown some playing time, too, putting him in with the Bears leading 10-3 in the second quarter. McNown's first pass was incomplete, but he followed with a 22-yard pass to Ryan Wetnight.

The Bears got to the Chiefs 4, but a penalty forced them to settle for Brian Gowins' 24-yard field goal.

McNown was 6-of-9 for 77 yards, though one of his incompletions was a dropped ball by Enis.