It was a brutal night for the New England Patriots (3-4) Monday while Chicago Bears (3-4) literally drove them out of their own building. Here’s who has been the best, and especially the worst, since Monday night’s 33-14 loss.
Winners
EDGE Matthieu Judon: It was another day at the office for the Patriots’ top passing thrower. Judon was consistently in the backfield, recording 2.5 sacks, three quarterback hits, one pass deflection and a pair of tackles for a loss. He continues to be one of New England’s best players week after week.
WR DeVante Parker: We’re just going to eliminate the only other winner here. Parker led New England with 68 receiving yards on the night and hauled another of his infamous jump balls down the right sideline – one of New England’s only highlights of the night.
losers
Supervisors : Let’s start here. As Bill Belichick and Patriots quarterbacks echoed the “to plan” to share the time, it was apparently not communicated well. Several Patriots offensive players such as Michael Onwenu, Jakobi Meyers and Rhamondre Stevenson were surprised to see Bailey Zappe in the game. Not great.
Also in that department, Matt Patricia continued to call two completely different attacks for his quarterbacks. In Jones’ three series, it was more what we saw in Weeks 1-3. Jones was under center on just one of his nine dropouts with limited use of play-action. When Zappe entered the game, it was under center where he hit big plays to Parker and the touchdown to offside Meyers. Also, the pass to Meyers in the two-minute drill seemed like a bad call of game.
Quarters: Mac Jones looked extremely uncomfortable in his limited action. Probably still not 100%, he seemed completely out of open receivers to start the game. He also remains a mess under pressure, where he forced the horrific interception by targeting Jonnu Smith. It was his fourth interception and fifth turnover under pressure this season.
As for Bailey Zappe, The Fever got off to a quick start leading two quick touchdowns. Then things fell apart. Zappe threw two interceptions and had four passes from the line of scrimmage.
“It continues for me,” Zappe explained after the game. “I have to do a better job of getting around defenders, finding ways to get it to receivers. Of course, that’s something else I’m still working on. So I just have to find ways better, get around defenders, get past them, get around them, whatever.
Racing game: For the second week in a row, the Patriots struggled to move football on the field against a supposedly poor running defense. The Bears entered the week with the DVOA defense ranked 27th, but New England only rushed for 70 yards — 24 from Mac Jones.
Rhamondre Stevenson and Damien Harris combined for just 47 yards on 14 carries (3.36 yards per carry) and the offensive line seemed to continue to struggle in that area when first viewed. Speaking of the offensive line, we can go ahead and include Trent Brown in that area who took four total penalties Monday night (two strikes, a false start and a trip).
Run defense. At the other end of the spectrum was New England’s run defense. In a recurring theme, he struggled to slow down mobile quarterbacks, with Justin Fields taking advantage this time around. Fields rushed for 82 yards and a score Monday night as the Bears significantly increased their use of engineered runs.
With Christian Barmore absent, Daniel Ekuale and Sam Roberts struggled in the middle. Ekuale had one of the biggest misses on a 3rd-and-17 which led to Fields rushing in for a first down. Beyond Fields, the duo of Khalil Herbert and David Montgomery combined for 124 yards on 27 carries (4.6 yards per carry), while Dante Pettis also broke up a 29-yard run. Jahlani Tavai and Mack Wilson seemed to be having tough days in that department, while Anfernee Jennings’ role along the edge might be one of the few bright spots.
After taking positive action against the run over the past two weeks, it was a big step back for the Patriots on Monday.
Special teams. It was another tough game for punter Jake Bailey, who had two punts under 20 yards – helping the Bears to an average starting position on their own 33-yard line. One of Bailey’s punts was a low liner that led to a 27-yard return from Dante Pettis.
Injuries. Two key Patriots left the game with injuries in safety Kyle Dugger and center David Andrews. Dugger left the game with an ankle injury and limped heavily leaving the field and in the locker room after the game. As for Andrews, he was assessed for a head injury after an illegal block following a Zappe interception. He left very slowly towards the locker room with trainers. James Ferentz would likely be next if he were forced to run out of time.