MORSE: Observations After the Patriots Embarrass Themselves in Home Blowout Loss to Bears

This was an embarrassment. All week the talk was whether or not Mac Jones would start. Was he sufficiently healed to play? Should the Patriots give him an extra week to heal and play the hot hand in Bailey Zappe.

Right from the coin flip things didn’t go well for the Patriots. They lost the coin flip, Marcus Jones made a bad decision by trying and return a Kickoff from 2 yards deep in the end zone and only reached the 17-yard line. Mac Jones started and I supported starting Jones. If he wasn’t ready then put in Zappe and that’s what they did. The defense couldn’t stop anyone.

Chicago came out determined to stop the run but Matt Patricia didn’t allow Mac Jones to open with play action. It wasn’t until having two 3-and-outs in the first two series, that Patricia allowed Jones to pass on 1^st down. Patricia’s playcalling was suspect all game and it appears his playcalling favored Zappe as opposed to Jones. The bottom line was the Bears won all three phases of the game.

I didn’t expect to see the Patriots shredded on Defense. Why were they playing so soft in the secondary? They played zone way too much in the 1^st The Bears WR is not that good.
The Bears ran for 243 yards on the ground. They ran 45 times and dominated the time of possession and the total number of offensive plays. Fields had 82 yards, Montgomery had 62 as did Herbert. They had no answer for Fields who dominated short yardage and kept drives alive by escaping the pocket and making 1^st He had 70 yards rushing in the first half.
The Patriots had 4 Giveaways. No NFL team goes -3 in the giveaway/takeaway and wins. The Bears had 5 fumbles and the Patriots didn’t recover one of them. Fields has problems fumbling all season. This week he had 4 but none of them hurt the Bears.
Bad play call by Patricia on end around Jakobi Meyers. Zappe got charged with the turnover, but it was clearly Meyers missing the handoff. He whiffed at grasping it.
Not sure when Kyle Dugger was hurt, but not having him in the lineup caused big problems for the defense.
David Andrews getting hit with a blindside hit and a helmet-to-helmet hit by Mike Pennel deserved the penalty, ejection, and ultimate fine and/or suspension. The former Patriot may have knocked out Andrews for several games.
Isaiah Wynn was designated as inactive and Bill Murray, a call-up from the Practice Squad, and a convert from DL to OL this year were active. What does that say about Wynn?
Zappe did give the team a big jolt when he came in and led them to two TDs. The turnover on the end around gave the Bears a big boost with an FG after a TD and followed up FG to open the 2^nd That was the ballgame. The Patriots don’t have the capacity to come back from a 10-point deficit. The defense let them down. They gave up 11 3^rd down conversions, and 23 straight points.
Bailey Zappe’s height is a problem. He is slightly over 6’ tall. He had 4 passes knocked down or tipped and 1 of those was intercepted.
Were the Patriots looking past the Bears and thinking about the Jets next week?
Jakobi Meyers made a terrific adjustment to a Zappe pass. He was wide open on a blown coverage by the Bears. Meyers spun around and not only made the catch but had the smarts to get up and stretch for the end zone. He wasn’t touched so he wasn’t down and replay showed he clearly got up and stretched for the goal line, before being down.
Jake Bailey’s punting is flat-out awful. He bobbled the 1^st snap and nearly had the punt blocked. His best kick was 47 yards and he averaged only 40 yards a kick with none inside the 20. He is ranked last in the league. His last kick was a line drive that led to a big Dante Pettis return putting the Bears instantly in FG range.
The Field’s sidearm pass, eluding the leaping Deatrich Wise, was the play of the game. The completion to Herbert, who took it 25 yards to the house, really broke the backs of the Patriots. That TD answered Stevenson’s, which had just put the Patriots up 14-10.
Trent Brown’s 4 penalties were killers. In 1^st series, a holding call wiped out a Chicago off-sides penalty. In the Second series, another holding call wiped out what would have been a call against Chicago. On 3^rd down, Brown was called for illegal procedure. Both were three and outs. Later he was called for tripping, which I thought was a bad call. The Defender was already going down when his leg naturally whipped around.
Mac Jones’s interception was on the run and he floated it. That allowed Jaquan Brisker time to come up and pick it off. A really bad play, he knows better than that.
Did we hear Deatrich Wise’s name called all night? Only when he jumped to block a pass.
Jack Jones was avoiding contact all night. Several times he ran away from tackling a player.
Devin McCourty said they never saw any of the rushing by Justin Fields on the film reviews. The Bears used Lamar Jackson’s plays and gutted the Patriots as did Jackson.
Chicago had three extra days of preparation for the film review. This is part of the -12 days rest the patriots have in their schedule. They lose another day this week for the games in the Meadowlands against the Jets. The -12 days rest is the worst schedule in the league.
Why did Steve Belichick call for only 4 pass rushers and everyone else in zone coverage? This was one of the worst O lines in the league. They had given up 23 sacks. The secondary playing zone when they should have been in man because the Bears’ WRs are just not that good.
Playing Jahlani Tavai and JuWhuan Bentley together makes the Patriots a very slow defense.

Like this article?
Support Mark and buy him a coffee.

About Mark Morse

Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.

View all posts by Mark Morse