Notes, musings, and observations from the New England Patriots’ 19-3 victory over the Chicago Bears.
The New England Patriots notched their third win of the 2024 season with a convincing road win over the Chicago Bears, thus plummeting them all the way down to 7th overall in the 2025 Draft order. What a disaster.
You know what? Screw that. I like wins and I’ll always root for wins. And as far as wins go, this was a great one.
1. I, like a lot of people coming into this season, had the 2024 Patriots winning maybe four or five games this year. And of those four or five wins, I expected all of them to be a version of exactly what we saw yesterday against the Bears. Winning the time of possession battle. A strong rushing attack with over 120 yards on the ground. Smart, high-percentage passes mixed in with a few deep shots to keep the defense honest. Overcoming Drake Maye’s inevitable rookie mistakes by controlling the line of scrimmage on defense and making the opposing QB’s life miserable. Coverage sacks. Some good punt and kick returns to set up strong field position. And just enough positive plays to walk out of there with a win. This game, perhaps more than any other this season, represented this iteration of the Patriots playing into their strengths.
2. Do the Bears stink? It would appear that way. Do they perhaps have more issues along the offensive line than the Patriots do? I’ll entertain the argument. But that shouldn’t take anything away from what was a strong and convincing win.
3. Perhaps most encouraging was what we saw from the coaching staff. I don’t know if it’s accurate to say that they opened up the playbook a bit, but they for sure dusted off the plays that I’ve always thought made a lot of sense when you have a rookie QB and a weak offensive line. We saw a number of quick screens to Pop Douglas on the edge. Slants to Austin Hooper. Whatever the hell that double reverse flea flicker that pickled up nine yards was. Using a Mondre/Hasty two-headed attack early and bringing in Gibson’s fresh legs late to close things out, which was an interesting wrinkle. I don’t know whether they’re more confident in Maye or they realized the play-calling just wasn’t working or what, but I’m here for it.
4. Speaking of Maye, he certainly came out on the winning side of the unfair and absurd comparison between himself and Caleb Williams. In addition to taking an absurd nine sacks, Williams was less accurate, more indecisive, and less in command of the offense than Maye was.
5. Not that Maye was perfect; this now marks the second week in a row he attempted a pass he had no business attempting and paid the price for it. But he definitively didn’t cost his team the game in any capacity and generated three scoring drives of 10 plays or more.
6. He’s also resorting to the run less and always seems to be looking to get rid of the ball for as long as possible before taking off. His one big run, a 19-yarder early in the fourth quarter, came after he scanned the left side of the field, then the right, then back to the left, and only took off when he saw that nobody was open and that he had a big lane.
7. Now we just need him to stop harnessing his inner Josh Allen and leading with his face. Kids these days don’t seem to know how to slide — perhaps because they seem to be doing away with slides on schoolyard playgrounds.
8. Which isn’t the worst thing in the world, I suppose. I’m not some kind of safety expert, but I remember being six years old at recess and climbing fifteen feet up a rusty metal ladder so I could slide down a series of sharp-edged aluminum flaps connected by two inch bolts that had been exposed to direct sunlight since about 8 AM that morning. As I plummeted toward a blacktop with zero padding on it whatsoever, the real fun was learning whether I’d be getting a second-degree burn on my legs or if my pants would catch on the edge of the slide and give me a wedgie so severe I’d be sidelined for the rest of recess.
9. The point still stands, though, Drake. Get down when you see guys coming for you.
10. That the Patriots only surrendered one sack may be the first holiday miracle of the season. They’re still allowing pressure on almost half of New England’s dropbacks, which is insane, but as we saw better playcalling and more effective running and more mobility from the QB, the issues were mitigated. It’s almost like you can scheme your way around your team’s weaknesses. Who knew?
11. Kayshon Boutte also seems to be emerging as the receiver that Drake Maye is going to go to when he kind of has to put a ball up there and hope his guy makes a play. And he has been delivering fairly regularly, He never seems to have a monster day — four grabs for 47 yards isn’t anything crazy — but those catches always seem to come at exactly the right time.
12. Something that should probably get more praise is the way that Boutte has consistently gotten up immediately after a making a big play late in the half in order to get the ball to the ref and give the offense as much time as possible to spike it and stop the clock. We can all count on both hands the number of times a young receiver took a five-second victory lap for making a big catch as the rest of the team is in an all-out sprint to get themselves set up and cost his team a scoring chance.
13. While we’re talking about receivers… tough not to be impressed with how much Ja’Lynn Polk’s stat line improved this week. His one reception on one attempt for two yards and a touchdown represents one of his most productive days as a pro.
14. I know it’s the Bears and a struggling QB and line we’re talking about here, but this was the defense’s best performance of the year by a wide margin. Pressure came in from the edge and up the middle as the front four won their one-on-one battles. But even when they didn’t, well-schemed coverage packages forced Williams to hold onto the ball for longer than he should have, thus allowing the pressure to get home. And whoever decided to put a Special Teamer out there as a QB spy deserves one of the legs at Thanksgiving dinner this year, because that was a stroke of genius. Brenden Schooler’s one tackle on one attempt for one TFL and one sack is almost as impressive as Polk’s big breakout week.
15. The only decision I’d question was putting Marcus Jones on Keenan Allen for much of this contest. Jones is 5-foot-8 and 180 pounds if he decides to hog all the Halloween candy for himself. Allen is 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, and has been around the league for long enough to find holes in the zone and use his size and strength effectively. And yet in spite of that, he had less than 45 yards receiving on the day. So tough to complain too much.
16. This week’s award for Player Nobody Talks About But Is Having Himself a Season? Marte Mapu. He only saw limited snaps as part of a safety platoon with Hawkins and Pettus, and he’s not going to show up on the stat sheet this week with his one tackle- but go back and watch the plays he was in on. Watch how many times Williams has to abandon the middle of the field and go to his second and third reads because Mapu diagnosed a crosser or slant correctly. As we continue to figure out which players are in New England’s long-term plans and which ones aren’t, maybe someone can recommend Mapu a good real estate agent in Attleboro.
17. Someone who might want to think about selling Mapu his house, though, is Kendrick Bourne.
18. The defense really was the shining star of yesterday’s game. Just dominant at every level, and tough to either highlight one guy or call one guy out either. A total team effort.
19. On a side note, screw the commissioner of my fantasy league for neglecting to inform everyone that sacks don’t get you points for D/ST. I started the Patriots defense this week, which only netted me 11 points, and I’m about to lose this week by four.
20. I sat down to watch the game yesterday with a massive sigh of relief knowing I was done getting assaulted with three to five political ads during every single commercial break. What I failed to realize, however, is that the powers that be just replaced all those political ads with holiday ads and I can already feel myself morphing into Scrooge.
21. Don’t get me wrong; I absolutely love the holiday season. I’m a big Christmas guy and go all out around this time of year. I just happen to be of the opinion that one of the things that make the season so special, not unlike the NFL, is how short it is. It kicks off with Thanksgiving, and from Black Friday until Christmas Day all bets are off. Go nuts. Hang all the decorations, watch all the holiday specials and movies, and get as into the spirit as you possibly can. But if you take down your Halloween decorations and put your holiday decorations up on the same weekend, you and I should sit down and have a little chat.
22. Lastly, and most importantly, a very happy Veteran’s Day to all of those who have served, are serving, or will serve. I get to write these articles every week during the season because of the choices you have all made and will make. We’re living in a wild, wild time right now, and it’s very easy to get fired up over what’s happening in the world. But I’d like to hope that appreciating the men and women who serve in the armed forces is about as bipartisan an issue as it gets. So to any veterans reading, a massive, massive thank you, and go enjoy a well-deserved free Grand Slam Breakfast at Denny’s.
I have no idea what to expect from this team over the next few weeks. I can see them going 3-0 and 0-3 and every other combination in between. But I do know one thing. This team is fun. I like them. Which is more than I can say about a lot of things in the NFL these days.