The New England Patriots lost their Thursday night primetime game to the Chicago Bears with a final score of 30-24. They have now dropped to 4-3 on the season, and currently out of the playoff picture in the AFC.
Here is who caught our eye for better or worse upon live-viewing the Week 7 contest.
Winners
QB Drake Maye: The Patriots quarterback lamented postgame about his second quarter interception that proved costly, but Maye was a key reason New England stayed competitive Thursday night. He completed a season-high 77.4% of his passes and again eclipsed the 300-yard mark while being nearly perfect against pressure completing 11 of 12 attempts for 151 yards and a touchdown. His +0.34 EPA/play (84th percentile) was identical to Caleb Williams.
Maye was also the team’s leading rusher Thursday night as he also added a third touchdown with his legs and made several plays out of structure.
TE Hunter Henry: The veteran tight end continued to be a steady source of offense for the Patriots, leading the team with seven receptions and targets. Henry took his seven receptions for 71 yards as he was a reliable outlet for Maye over the middle of the field and against pressure.
Losers
Tackling: The Patriots defense was credited with missing 16 (!) tackles Thursday night in Chicago. That was their most in a game since last year’s Super Bowl (18). The usual steady Marcus Jones led the way with five, including a whiff on Colston Loveland’s third quarter touchdown. In total, the Bears totaled 163 yards after the catch and 96 rushing yards after contact.
“The tackling wasn’t good enough, not against this team. We knew coming in, certainly against this team,” Mike Vrabel said.
LBs Robert Spillane and LB Christian Elliss: Caleb Williams found great success over the middle of the field Thursday night as the Patriots struggled in zone coverage. As a whole, Williams went 14-of-18 for 208 yards and a touchdown against zone. The big plays started in the first quarter with a 58-yard completion to Luther Burden as Christian Elliss and Charles Woods both ended up in the flat busting the coverage.
Spillane and Elliss were both credited for missing three combined tackles and allowing four receptions, while Elliss was also had a prime opportunity to sack Williams on a late 3rd-and-11, but saw the quarterback evade him and fire a laser to Rome Odunze to move the chains.
WR A.J. Brown: It was another quiet day for the Patriots’ top receiver, who finished with just three catches for 48 yards on six targets. Brown had another go-ball opportunity he could not finish as Maye dropped a dime in the bucket. The defender forced Brown to play through contact, but it’s a play you’d like to see the three-time Pro Bowler make. Brown will get some extra time off now after returning from the high ankle sprain, where the Patriots will then need a bigger impact from their No. 1 wide receiver.
Honorable mentions
- A pregame key here: stay out of third-and-pass situations. The Patriots found themselves in too many of those spots in the first quarter which allowed Dennis Allen’s blitz package to create havoc. As Maye noted postgame, they dealt with those better with the Patriots finding more early-down success as the game went on.
- The Patriots run game was largely non-existent. Removing Maye, the Patriots finished with 13 carries for 44 yards and a 20% success rate (6th percentile).
- Despite those struggles, Rhamondre Stevenson had the best run of the night (13-yard wham) and made an impact elsewhere. He finished with five receptions for 93 yards and a wild end-of-half touchdown, while also doing his usual work as a pass protector.
- Eli Raridon joined Henry with productive game, finishing with three receptions for 56 yards and a touchdown. A better ball from Maye on the interception in Raridon’s direction could have also resulted in another touchdown.
- As for the offensive line, the makeshift group largely protected well 1-on-1 but dealt with penalties. The Will Campbell false start still was questionable from this point of view.
- Besides a poor roughing the passer penalty, Gabe Jacas was a bully along the defensive line. He finished with a team-high five pressures and allowed teammates to clean up two sacks.
- On the other end, Elijah Ponder finished with four pressures but found himself out of position on multiple big plays against.
- Mitch Wishnowsky continues to punt well while Andy Borregales made all of his kicks. New England did allow a 47-yard kick return.