Moral victories are typically reserved for teams with first-year head coaches, young quarterbacks who played well and appear to be moving in the right direction, and horrific teams that hang in tough against non horrific teams. Teams who just went to the Super Bowl? Not so much.
But under these circumstances…
The New England Patriots should feel pretty decent about themselves after their loss to the Chicago Bears on Thursday Night Football.
No, they didn’t get screwed by the referees.
No, there isn’t one thing in particular that cost them the game.
No, they didn’t even deserve to win the game.
Chicago had an outstanding gameplan, with the offense keeping itself alive via explosive plays (hit for 21, 21, 21, 22, 22, 26, and 58 yards) and the defense leaning into recent trends by causing headaches early in the game with double mug looks (6-for-8 on third- and fourth-down).
New England didn’t, failing to do much of anything positive in the first quarter while its miracle end-of-half touchdown makes things look much better than they should.
If you take a step back and look at the big picture, though, there’s no reason to believe the latter wouldn’t be able to compete against anyone.
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The Patriots’ young season has been defined by injuries, with the injured reserve total already toppling that of last season and each week putting a spotlight on someone who you’ve never previously heard of.
Matt Pryor and Walter Rouse were the starting guards on Thursday, making them the eighth and ninth offensive lineman to start a game for the club this season.
Kyle Williams and Efton Chism III are suddenly extremely important thanks to injuries suffered by Mack Hollins, Romeo Doubs, and AJ Brown — the latter of whom has been totally ineffective since his return.
Jayden Reed and Mike Brown weren’t even supposed to be on the roster but are receiving reps due to injuries in the secondary.
Charles Woods is in the same boat, suddenly becoming one of the starting cornerbacks while the club is without Carlton Davis, Karon Prunty, and Channing Canada.
If you’re into making excuses, they’re plentiful.
If you’re not, there’s still plenty of positives to take from a game in which Drake Maye was nearly flawless, Will Campbell and Morgan Moses anchored a surprisingly effective offensive line despite dealing with injuries, Elijah Ponder and Gabe Jacas continue to make an impact rushing the opposing quarterback, and Mike Vrabel’s coaching staff made in-game adjustments that had them within one 58-yard field goal of potentially winning the game in regulation.
It’s not going to get easier at One Patriot Place.
Brown, Brenden Schooler and Marcus Bryant have already been designated to return from reserve lists, which means the organization will be able to choose only five more players, not an easy task with the current list of players on injured reserve including Hollins, Doubs, Alijah Vera-Tucker, and Greg Van Roten — half of the starting offense.
The Miami Dolphins, Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, Los Angeles Chargers, Buffalo Bills, Minnesota Vikings, and Kansas City Chiefs are on the docket, and while two of those teams stink really bad, the others are legitimate playoff contenders who could essentially end your season.
Brown needs to be better, and while there’s some optimism that his struggles are tied to his injury, he hasn’t done himself any favors with the local media — a trend we’re all too familiar with. TreVeyon Henderson has all but lost the backup running back job to Corey Kiner. Josh McDaniels is still driving people crazy with his play-calling on the offensive side. Zak Kuhr is finally starting to get figured out on the defensive side.
Vrabel has proven himself to be an elite problem solver, however.
If there’s an issue, there’s a way out of it. The Patriots haven’t quite found their way out of all those issues we laid out, but they’ve got the pieces to the puzzle.
I think you’ll start to see that as the season continues to press. Go ahead and quote me: this team is going to be quite alright.