The Patriots rebounded after a bad game against Tennessee to beat the Bears 19-3 on the road over a Chicago team that looks absolutely lost right now. If you think (like us here) that the Patriots offensive line is struggling, Chicago says, “Hold my beer!”
Look, we all know that Chicago’s OL was bad, but even so, I’m going to give a tip of the Beret (it is Veterans Day, after all) to the Patriots’ defense and the coaches. It was a great game plan and darn near flawlessly executed. So, there is no but, but, buts this week. Did anyone put up an asterisk after facing the Pats in the first month of the season? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
It was great to see the running game….running for a change. No, it wasn’t great but it was much better than the last month or so. They haven’t had this many rushing yards since going for 151 against Miami in Week 5.
The Patriots were the tougher team on Sunday, and the coaching staff outcoached their foes on this day. And that was nice to see.
It wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough, two out of three? Who would have “thunk” it?
So, here are our grades this week for the Patriots-Bears game.
Quarterback: C
Drake Maye didn’t get off to the greatest start, but he got better as the game went along. He led them offensively to a road win, their first complete-game win. More importantly, this is HIS team now.
Maye has been feeling his way through the process. He is a rookie quarterback and only 22 years old. But the Patriots were terrible on Wednesday during the game-plan installation practice. Mistakes, penalties, and blown assignments… sound familiar? However, Maye asked the AVP if he could address the team after practice. And he did.
While it was probably not this speech, its meaning hit home. Maye told them it wasn’t good enough. That the team and their goals were higher than this.
The players applauded him afterward. “Everybody loved it, man,” said wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk. “We need that from our starting quarterback.”
Demario Douglas added, “I don’t know how he did it. I couldn’t do that,” Douglas pointed out. “As a quarterback, I guess he should be able to. But if it were me, I’d get nervous and start sweating.”
The practices afterward were supposedly some of the best they’ve had this season, and they put forth a great effort on the field. Maye completed 15 of 25 for 185 yards with one awful interception and one touchdown. But they had an excellent team win led by their QB. This is HIS team now.
Running Backs: B-
Rhamondre Stevenson had a bounce-back game on Sunday. Although it wasn’t dominant, he rushed 20 times for 74 yards, and the running game looked much better. JaMycal Hasty added six carries for 20 yards, while Antonio Gibson came on late and added five carries for 26 more.
After having zero production last week, the backs combined rushed 31 times for 120 yards. With Drake Maye adding 24 yards on four carries, the team rushed for 144 yards. That’s much more like it.
The backs, however, weren’t a factor in the passing game. Stevenson had one catch for three yards, and Hasty had one catch for just four yards. That knocked the grade down a bit.
Wide Receivers: C
Demario Douglas and Kayshon Boutte were the only two WRs to get multiple targets on Sunday. Boutte was targeted six times and had four catches for 47 yards, including a nice 23-yarder. Douglas was targeted five times and had four catches for 50 yards.
KJ Osborne was targeted once and appeared to have a touchdown but was ruled to have stepped out of bounds before the ball getting there. Ja’Lynn Polk was also targeted once and had a two-yard touchdown.
This may be the beginning of much better things for him.
Tight Ends: B
Austin Hooper was the Patriots leading receiver on Sunday, catching three passes for 64 yards including a beautiful 28-yarder from Maye which was perfectly placed and Hooper made a nice grab.
Hunter Henry had only one catch for 14 yards on four targets but this tandem always seems to be there for Drake Maye. Jaheim Bell was not targeted and only played two snaps.
Offensive Line: B-
The Patriots decided to go back to the OL they used in Weeks 6 and 8, with Vederian Lowe, Michael Jackson, Ben Brown, Mike Onwenu, and Trey Jacobs. And it worked well for them.
The offensive line opened up enough room for the backs to run, and they ran for 185 yards. Drake Maye was sacked once for 0 yards and was hit seven times; still too much, but the overall game they had was impressive against a good Bears defense. Now they need to do it again.
Defensive Line: A
The Patriots’ defensive line dominated the line of scrimmage in this one. They hounded Bears quarterback Caleb Williams all day. The team, beginning with the beleaguered defensive line, ended up with nine (9) sacks.
The Bears only rushed for 73 yards on the day on 20 carries with a 3.7-yard average. The longest Bear run of the day was 10 yards on a scramble from Williams.
Jeremiah Pharms had five tackles, a sack, three TFLs, and a QB hit. Keion White had four tackles, a sack, two TFLs, two QB hits, and a pass defensed. Deatrich Wise had two sacks, two QB hits, a TFL, and a pass defensed. Jacqueline Roy had a sack. This was a great game for the DL.
Linebackers: A-
Jahlani Tavai had another outstanding game. He had nine tackles, a sack, a TFL, a pass defensed, and a QB hit. Anfernee Jennings had arguably his best game of the year, setting the edge as he normally does. But the team asked for him to generate some help in the pass rush department.
With the Bears missing their top tackles, Jennings was outstanding, wreaking havoc. He had four tackles, two sacks, two TFLs, and three QB hits. The unit was much better against the run and helped hold the Bears to just three points and 142 total yards.
Secondary: A-
The Patriots’ secondary was helped by the fearsome pass rash on Sunday. The front seven had a banner day with seven sacks and 10 QB hits. Not to be outdone, the secondary held Williams to 120 yards passing (69 net), averaging just four yards per pass.
And a wrinkle that the Patriots added was to put STs ace Brendan Schooler on defense as a spy for Williams. Schooler had a sack and two QB hits. Dell Pettus had a sack, a TFL, a QB hit, and a pass defensed.
Christian Gonzalez, Jonathan, and Marcus Jones had another solid game. The Bears have an excellent group of skill position players, but their leading receiver was Keenan Allen, who had five catches for 44 yards. Their longest pass play was just 18 yards. Rome Odunze was held in check as well.
Special Teams: B-
The ST units started shaky, and they gave up a 38-yard punt return, but things settled down. Bryce Barringer averaged 57 yards per punt on five punts, including a booming 75-yarder. Marcus Jones returned three punts for 45 yards, including a 24-yarder. Joey Slye was 4-4 on field goal attempts.
Coaches: A-
The coaching staff pantsed the Bears’ staff yesterday. They introduced a few new wrinkles, including Demarcus Covington’s “Longhorn” call with Schooler playing spy on Williams. And it worked quite well.
And let’s not forget that the offense got aggressive at the end of the half and scored 10 points in the last 1:46 to put them up 13-3 at the break. And they were prepared for it…gotta love it. When you go to someone else’s house and hold them to three points, you won’t lose many games.
They deserve the kudos for this win. The battle with Sean McVay and the Rams staff is going to be much tougher on Sunday, but for a rebuilding team facing a desperate opponent, this was a good building block.
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We’re back to Foxboro and the Rams
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A former US Army Special Forces NCO and Officer, Steve has been following the Patriots since their days at Fenway Park. Steve has worked in the film industry and wrote as an Military Editor at SpecialOperations.com, 1945.com as a reporter for the Millbury Daily Voice, Millbury-Sutton Chronicle, and the Grafton News. He's also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA)
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The Pats D won’t get the Bears backup offensive lineman this week vs the Rams. The Bears o-line issue was as bad or worse than where the pats were weeks 3-5. Hey but that’s todays NFL.
The Rams had some injury issues in Sept/Oct, but atypically for the NFL, the rams are now reasonably healthy. The Rams D has been decent and stafford is putting up yards in the air. That game will be hard on the pats to win.