Hello Chicago Bears fans! It is a short week for the Beloved, as the Bears are slated to take on the New England Patriots Thursday night at Soldier Field (7:15 p.m. CT). The 4-2 Chicago Bears host the 4-2 New England Patriots on Amazon Prime Video in the first of three straight prime-time games. Chicago is riding a bounce-back 31-23 road win over Atlanta, with Caleb Williams looking sharp in his return (30 of 36 for 305 yards and a touchdown). But the ground game will continue to be bereft of Kyle Monangai (out again with thumb/toe). The Bears will also be without Jack Sanborn (concussion) and will likely miss T.J. Edwards (hamstring), who is listed as doubtful.
New England arrives on a three-game winning streak behind Drake Maye, but the Patriots are short-handed up front—both starting guards are out—and the Pats will be missing multiple corners, including Carlton Davis III. With two efficient quarterbacks, a banged-up New England offensive line, and both teams capable of moving the ball, the game figures to hinge on who protects the ball and who finds the end zone. If either Williams or Maye put up big yardage or turn the ball over, we could be in for some big swings. D’Andre Swift and TreVeyon Henderson will likely be the feature backs, and A.J. Brown will look to bounce back from his stone-handed performance this season. Below is our roundtable with the score predictions and the individual highlights we think will decide it under the lights.
Josh: 34-31 OT for the Bears, with quarterbacks trading wow plays and the defenses doing just enough to keep scores from being ridiculous. Cairo redeems himself with a 57-yarder after the offense stalls late in overtime.
Gary Baugher Jr: 27-20 Bears. At the start of the season, this was a game I had circled as a loss for us, but the Patriots OL situation and the track record for success at home tilt that for me. Caleb gets 2 touchdowns, Swift a 3rd and Cairo has a clean day. Maye gets sacked 4+ times.
JB: This would be a really fun game with a full week of prep. Thursday games can be super weird and turn on things that may not be obvious until the game starts, so predicting said games can be a fool’s errand. Now that I’ve given myself an out… 44-17, Bears offense has one of those explosive games and the makeshift offensive line for the Pats gives up too many pressures, and the Bears defense takes the ball away from Maye at least twice. Bears roll.
GOOCH: I’m with JB in this one. While I think Maye is a great, young quarterback, dating back to last season, when he faced significant pressure, he tended to wilt. With New England banged up as bad as it is up front, I expect Dennis Allen to scheme a number of exotic pressures that put the backup Pats in conflict and force Maye to run. I’ll predict two Maye interceptions (one by Thineman) against two touchdown passes, a Booker sack, and give me another Spidey sack to boot. I think Henderson breaks off a big one to boost the Patriots rushing attack, and they’re able to collectively post 150 yards on the ground. But that is countered by Swift who notches another touchdown, and Caleb adds two more touchdowns and goes back-to-back with 300 yard passing games. Bears over the Patriots, 42-20.
What is your pick and predictions for the game?