Patriots’ best sequence against Bears should have fans optimistic about the future

Drake Maye and Kayshon Boutte made one of the biggest plays of Sunday’s 19-3 win.

The New England Patriots have had their fair share of issues in end-of-half situations this year. Against the Chicago Bears on Sunday, however, they showed some real improvement in that area — and then some.

Late in the second quarter of their 19-3 win, the Patriots played some outstanding complementary football. It was a testament to both the players executing at a high level, and the coaching staff preparing them for the situations that unfolded.

The progress displayed within that two-minute stretch should therefore have fans optimistic about the future.

It all started after Drake Maye and Ja’Lynn Polk connected on a short touchdown pass to give New England a 10-3 lead with 1:46 left on the clock. The Patriots defense then delivered a quick stop to give its offense a shot at another score — one that was made more realistic thanks to former All-Pro punt returner Marcus Jones taking the ensuing punt 24 yards to allow the offense to set up shop at the 40-yard line.

From there, and with two timeouts left, the Patriots began moving down the field. Rather slowly at first, one might add: an incomplete pass was followed by a 9-yard gain on a throw to DeMario Douglas.

JaMycal Hasty then picked up a new set of downs on a 3rd-and-1, with New England’s run blocking getting enough movement on a split zone call to give the veteran back room to bounce back for the conversion.

The run forced New England to use its last timeout. And so, with 16 ticks on the clock, the team found itself just outside of kicker Joey Slye’s range.

On 1st-and-10, the Patriots had to go big or go broke. They did the former. Operating out of a shotgun formation, Maye had time to survey the field and check his options before delivering a strike to Kayshon Boutte over the middle for a gain of 23 yards.

Up to that point, the play itself already was impressive — from the offensive line creating a clean pocket in a clear passing situation, to Maye delivering a pin-point accurate throw just over Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson, to Boutte stretching out to haul in the throw. What came next, however, also deserves a mention.

It is what makes a great play into one to build from.

With the seconds ticking, Boutte made sure to give his team a chance for a field goal beyond just making the catch. After getting tackled to the ground, the sophomore wideout wasted no time jumping back up and looking for the nearest official to spot him the ball.

The Patriots ended up spiking the ball with 2 seconds remaining. They even got an extra 5 yards by snapping the ball before Bears defender Montez Sweat had crossed the line of scrimmage back into his own territory. Slye ended up splitting the uprights from 37 yards out to give New England a 13-3 lead heading into the half.

Obviously, Boutte’s awareness in that situation is something to be expected from an NFL receiver. However, over the first nine weeks of the season the Patriots had a hard time executing the fine details and it repeatedly cost them; New England messing up the end-of-half operation once again would have been disappointing but not necessarily surprising given their track record so far this year.

However, they did not. Instead, between Maye showcasing his high-end talent as a passer and Boutte executing a coaching point to perfection, New England put itself in a winning position.

“Credit to Coach Mayo and the offensive guys and the staff,” Maye said after the game. “We practice those like nobody’s business. We practice them every week, big plays and a chunk play and getting up there and spiking it. I think we even practiced that in our walkthrough [Saturday] morning, almost that same exact thing where we have no timeouts, it’s either thrust the field goal team out — I don’t know if we could have had time for that.

“No timeouts, we had to clock it, and it ended up working. I think we looked at that same play on film, kind of a backside dig, and it shows what contributes to just coaches getting me prepared and just making the throw.”

The Patriots’ coaching staff has been the subject of quite a bit of criticism so far this season, and oftentimes for good reason. However, against Chicago its work preparing the team came to fruition: the players may not have executed every concept as intended during the 19-3 victory, but certainly at an improved and significantly more consistent rate.

Maye’s connection with Boutte in the late second quarter — and the complementary football that led up to it — is a bona fide example of that.

“Situational football has definitely been a strength of ours, especially over the last few weeks,” said head coach Jerod Mayo, “like the different situations that show up depending on the clock and the score and the timeout situation. I would say, we were ahead of the game. It’s great to see when it comes to fruition.”