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Drake Maye thrives under pressure, but poor tackling dooms Patriots

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The Patriots hung with the Bears for 60 minutes at Soldier Field, but ultimately made too many mistakes to knock off Chicago on Thursday Night Football.

Here are notes from a 30-24 Patriots loss in primetime:

Too many missed tackles

The Patriots allowed 405 yards of total offense to Chicago and were gashed at times because of coverage busts and poor tackling. Per PFF’s charting, New England missed 16 tackles on Thursday Night Football, doubling their previous high of eight this season.

“Tackling wasn’t good enough, not against this team,” Vrabel said. “It just leads to extra yards and conversions. We fought, but I would say we need to turn the ball over and we have to tackle better. Those are fundamental skills.”

Even on a short week, it was uncharacteristically poor for a Vrabel-coached team.

Stevenson scores one for the ages

The highlight of the game came on the final play of the first half, courtesy of Rhamondre Stevenson. With three seconds remaining and the ball at Chicago’s 48-yard line, it was touchdown or bust for the Patriots offense.

Stevenson scored.

With six Bears defenders rushing Maye, the running back slipped out of the backfield and caught a short pass at the 45-yard line. From there, all Chicago needed to do was keep him out of the end zone.

They couldn’t.

Stevenson ran down the right sideline then picked up a block from DeMario Douglas at the 25-yard line, cutting back and slicing through the Bears secondary. At that point, the back said his mindset was simple.

“Score,” Stevenson said. “Score.”

With additional blocks from Hunter Henry and Kyle Williams, Stevenson accelerated through the red area and made it to the end zone. It was a stunning touchdown and momentum shift, as the Patriots cut Chicago’s lead from 20-7 to 20-14 heading into halftime.

“That was pretty, pretty cool,” Maye said. “That’s how we drew it up. We’ve been practicing that play since OTAs. So definitely brought us some life at halftime.”

A losing (turnover) battle

After Vrabel skewered his team for turning over the ball at an “embarrassing” rate earlier this week, the Patriots only had one giveaway in Chicago, but it proved to be a costly one.

On a first-and-10 in the red zone late in the second quarter, Maye underthrew Eli Raridon and was intercepted by Bears linebacker D’Marco Jackson in the end zone.

“It definitely was a huge point of the game,” Maye said. “I just — gosh, it’s those plays I talk about all the time. Those plays that can swing the game, can impact the game, and that was definitely one of them right there. I wish I definitely had that one back.”

The Patriots lost the turnover battle — they didn’t have a takeaway on defense — and for the season their turnover margin fell to minus-7. Only the Colts, who fired their general manager last week, have a worse mark.

Maye thrives under pressure

The interception in the end zone was the lone blemish for Maye in an otherwise strong performance. The third-year quarterback went 24 of 31 for 321 yards and a pair of touchdown passes, running for a score, too.

Maye’s outing was made more impressive by the pressure he faced.

According to Next Gen Stats, Maye was pressured on 15 of his 35 dropbacks (42.9%). Maye went 11 of 12 for 151 yards and a touchdown while under pressure and his 91.7% completion percentage was tied for the best of any quarterback this season, per NGS.

Quiet night for A.J. Brown

In the wake of a drop-plagued return to the Patriots lineup, all eyes were on A.J. Brown in primetime.

The star wideout delivered a largely uneventful evening.

Brown caught three passes for 48 yards on six targets. It wasn’t nearly as bad as Sunday’s performance against the Jets, but opposite Brown on the Chicago side, Luther Burden III terrorized the Patriots secondary, catching four passes for 130 yards and a touchdown. That’s likely the type of performance the Patriots were hoping for when they dealt a first-round pick for Brown in June.