The Chicago Bears are turning the page from Week 6 quickly as they prepare for a Thursday night showdown against the New England Patriots in Week 7.
The Bears are coming off a bounce-back performance with their win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday while the Patriots are looking for their fourth straight win after a 1-2 start.
The last time these two teams squared off was in 2024, when the Patriots beat then-rookie Caleb Williams and the Bears, 19-3. New England has had Chicago's number for years now, with the Pats winning six out of the last seven against the Bears.
Here's the three biggest concerns the Bears have when it comes to their Week 7 opponent.
Patriots' pass defense
The Patriots don't have an elite pass-rush with just 14 sacks, but they do have 12th-most pressures, the eighth-highest pressure percentage and the ninth-best pass-rush win rate, per ESPN, so New England is certainly formidable.
Christian Barmore and Milton Williams are two players to watch out for on Thursday. The interior duo has combined for 3.5 sacks and 21 pressures over six weeks and could be even more of a problem if the injured guard Jonah Jackson doesn't play.
The good news is, Caleb Williams has elite mobility, so he can negate the pressure New England is capable of bringing, but nothing is guaranteed on a snap-by-snap basis.
In terms of passing yards allowed per contest, the Pats are giving up the 11th-fewest in the NFL and have one of the better one-two punches at cornerback in the league with Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis, the latter of whom is on track to return from injury after being upgraded at practice on Tuesday.
New England also has Kevin Byard patrolling the back end and Bears fans know first hand how good of a ball-hawking safety Byard is.
Bears pass-catchers are going to have a stiff test on Thursday night.
Patriots' run defense
The Patriots have been pretty stingy against the run in 2026, with New England sporting the ninth-lowest yards-per-game average. Mike Vrabel's defense is also giving up just 3.9 yards per carry.
That's particularly troubling for the Bears because they are likely to be without Kyle Monangai once again this week and instead Roschon Johnson will spell D'Andre Swift, which amounts to a downgrade for Chicago.
What's even worse about not having Monangai is the Bears have been leaning on Swift less and less in the second half of games to keep him for the entire season.
The Maye-Brown connection
After a brutal start to the season, Maye has played much better of late and is looking more like the MVP candidate he was in 2025. In his last three games, Maye has thrown for 878 yards and 11 touchdowns to one pick.
Not only is Maye a major threat with his arm, but he is capable of taking off with the football to evade the pass-rush and pick up back-breaking gains with his legs.
Maye's outlook is even better now that A.J. Brown is back. Granted, Brown struggled mightily last week with some brutal drops in his first game back from injury, but he should be better this week now that he's had a chance to shake off some rust.
In years past, we would have been confident in Jaylon Johnson shutting Brown down, but Johnson has been a shell of that guy since last season, so there is major concern about the Bears' ability to keep Brown in check.
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