With 14 seconds left in the first half of the Chicago Bears’ Thursday night game against the New England Patriots, the Bears had seemingly grabbed control. After a Drake Maye interception, Chicago marched down the field and scored to take a 20-7 lead. However, a miracle 48-yard touchdown catch-and-run from Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson once again made it a one-possession game at halftime.
Caleb Williams and company immediately responded after the break with a touchdown to break any momentum New England had. A late, career-long field goal from Cairo Santos sealed the deal as the Bears improved to 5-2 with a 30-24 win against the Patriots.
Here are three takeaways from Chicago’s victory.
WILLIAMS DAZZLES AGAIN
Health continued to look like a nonfactor for Williams in his second game back from the hamstring injury he suffered against the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 20. Playing on a short week, Williams delivered his second straight 300-yard passing, no-turnover game.
Against a very strong New England defense, Williams completed 22-of-33 passes for 308 yards and two touchdowns. He also played mostly mistake-free football, aside from a late sack that nearly pushed the game-sealing field goal out of Santos’ range.
Williams had a 24-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Luther Burden III near the end of the second quarter, then found tight end Colston Loveland for a 12-yard touchdown on the opening drive of the third quarter.
Year three for Williams, and year two under head coach Ben Johnson, continue to show significant progress. In four games, Williams is completing 71% of his passes after he completed 58.1% last season. He has 1,020 passing yards and is averaging 8.2 yards per pass, which would also be a career high. Williams is up to five touchdowns and just one interception with a 105.6 QB rating and 79.3 QBR. Both metrics would be a career best.
BURDEN CONTINUES TO EMERGE
When Burden was drafted to Chicago in the second round of the 2025 draft, there was plenty of intrigue in adding a fast, dynamic wide receiver to an offense that already featured Williams and former first round pick Rome Odunze.
Burden was good at Missouri, particularly in 2023, when he recorded 86 catches for 1,212 yards and nine scores. He had a solid rookie season a year ago with 47 catches for 652 yards and two touchdowns in 15 games. But the production was fairly inconsistent as there were multiple games where he was a complete nonfactor.
This season has seen Burden take a big step forward and Thursday night was one of the best games of his career. Burden hauled in four passes for 130 yards and four touchdowns. It was the second most receiving yards in a game for the young wide receiver. Burden now has back-to-back games with at least 90 receiving yards for the first time and he’s up to 35 grabs for 491 yards and two touchdowns, well on pace to surpass his rookie year numbers.
SANTOS DELIVERS
Santos has been kicking field goals for the Bears since 2020 and has always been consistent, never missing more than five field goals in a season. Entering Thursday night, Santos’ career long was a 55-yarder, set in 2023. Head coach Ben Johnson called Santos’ number with 1:34 to play, for a kick that appeared to be beyond his range.
Up 27-21, Williams had led the Bears into field goal range, but took a sack on third down that pushed Chicago from the New England 30-yard line back 10 yards. That made a potential field goal a 58-yarder, three yards longer than Santos’ career-best boot.
Santos had missed a field goal on the Bears’ previous drive, clanging a 53-yarder off the right upright. Despite that miss and having never made a 58-yard field goal, Johnson sent Santos out there.
The veteran kicker nailed the long attempt, clearing the post with room to spare and giving Chicago the 30-21 lead. That field goal ultimately sealed the win as New England went back down and kicked a field goal but could not recover the onside kick.
UP NEXT
Chicago has 10 days off before traveling to Seattle to face the defending champion Seahawks (3-3) on Monday, Nov. 2 at 8:15 p.m.