The New England Patriots went out to the Windy City (and boy was it windy) to take on the Chicago Bears. What happened? Here are my biggest takeaways in the immediate aftermath of the Patriots’ victory that improved their record to 3-7. FINAL SCORE: Patriots 19 – Bears 3
— In the battle between top quarterbacks, Drake Maye certainly had a better day than Caleb Williams. Much of that had to do with New England’s defense stepping up and terrorizing the No. 1 overall pick.
— Against a banged-up Bears offensive line, New England’s pass rush came from all directions. Anfernee Jennings, Deatrich Wise and Jeremiah Pharms got sacks. Heck, even undrafted rookie safety Dell Pettus got a sack.
— New England sacked Williams nine times on the day. Nine times! On the occasions he wasn’t sacked, Williams went 16-of-30 for 120 yards.
— Chicago’s offense was a mess, going a brutal 1-for-14 on third down and finishing with 142 total yards of offense.
— The Patriots came into the year with a defense that was expected to be pretty solid. But most of the familiar names expected to lead that defense weren‘t out there, including Christian Barmore, Kyle Dugger, Jabrill Peppers, Ja’Whaun Bentley, Matthew Judon and Josh Uche.
— What we saw Sunday in Chicago was a no-name defense coming together to play complementary football to smother an opponent. The Bears haven’t been great offensively, sure. But if the Patriots want to get better, one of the next steps is to play a bad unit and make it look, well, bad.
— Pharms, a former USFL standout had a strong showing. He made some big plays against the run and almost came up with a blocked punt. As FOX broadcaster Kevin Kugler put it, “Might be the test game that Jeremiah Pharms has played in the National Football League today.”
— Speaking of surprise contributors, Brenden Schooler stepped in to play a situational role on defense. The special teams ace came in on passing downs to spy quarterback Williams, making sure he didn’t run wild out of the pocket. He wound up being involved in his first career sack. Pretty good for a guy with two career defensive snaps heading into the game.
— New England‘s defense was leaps and bounds better on third down, coming up with key stops and pass breakups to get Chicago off the field. Those are the sorts of plays where we’ve seen bad coverage or bone-headed penalties at times this year.
— Fantastic play by Marcus Jones, batting down a pass from 4th-and-10 from Williams in the closing minutes. That shut the door on Chicago’s last real chance to get back into the game.
— Wow, they picked up a roughing the passer call on the Bears. Patriots fans may not like the decision. But it’s encouraging to see NFL refs not calling ticky-tack hits.
— Austin Hooper had some big catches, leading the offense with 64 receiving yards on three catches. He had 137 yards on 16 catches through nine games heading into this week.
— Maye‘s deep balls to Kayshon Boutte just haven’t had enough juice. Whether it was the game-ending heave last week in Nashville or the deep attempts in Chicago, Maye’s attempts have forced Boutte to stop short and come back to the ball.
— The Patriots’ victory is the main story. But there were some minor concerns with Maye. He had a rough interception in the first half and nearly threw a second pick in the endzone late. He’s dynamic, but still making a troubling number of mistakes.
— No Yannick Ngakoue in this one. It was exciting to see New England add a former Pro Bowler who can help the pass rusher. But he was named one of the team’s seven inactive players before the game.
— Chicago lived up to its “Windy City” reputation Sunday, with winds up around 20 MPH. You know things are bad when you can see the goal posts swaying.
— Joey Slye didn’t attempt a field goal beyond 37 yards. But it was still pretty impressive to see him hit all four of his kicks in the minor hurricane swirling around Soldier Field.
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