The Chicago Bears improved to 5-2 on the 2026 season after beating the New England Patriots on Thursday night, 30-24.
The Bears were absolutely rolling on offense in the first half and looked like they might run away with the game before the Pats managed to pull off an improbable touchdown in the closing seconds that flipped the momentum.
However, the Bears didn't let that wreck the game and Chicago was able to do enough over the final two quarters to eventually come away with the win over the reigning AFC champs.
Now, a look at the biggest takeaways from the Bears' Week 7 win over the Patriots.
Caleb Williams keeps rolling
Caleb Williams continues to ascend toward elite status after yet another impressive showing on Thursday night.
It's clear the game has slowed down for Williams considerably and there is no doubt his accuracy has improved by leaps and bounds.
Williams finished 22-of-33 for 308 yards and two touchdowns to zero picks. The third-year signal-caller also added four carries for 19 yards. He should have had at least two more completions and more yards, but Colston Loveland dropped two passes.
Chicago's offense sputtered a bit in the second half, but it still was moving the ball throughout the final two quarters and the first half performance was enough to put the Bears over the top.
Electric performance from Luther Burden
Burden went quiet in the second half, but he was dominant over the first two quarters.
Burden finished with 130 yards on four catches and notched catches of 58 and 24 yards, with the latter going for a score. The 58-yarder set up the Bears' first touchdown of the game.
The yardage output was the most for Burden in a game this year, and it was the second-highest amount of his career. He continues cementing himself as Chicago's true No. 1 wideout.
Solid defense minus two plays
The Bears gave up two long touchdowns, one on a 48-yard catch and run to running back Rhamondre Stevenson, and the other came on a 30-yard catch by tight end Eli Raridon.
The one to Stevenson was especially egregious, as it came with no time left on the clock at the end of the first half and saw awful effort from Jaylon Johnson, and Malik Muhammad simply ran in the wrong direction of the play.
According to CBS Sports' Doug Clawson, there have been 1,006 attempts in the last 20 years that have seen a situation in which a team was in the final 10 seconds of a half, was 40-plus yards away from the end zone and threw a pass that traveled 10 or fewer air yards and the Patriots are the only team to score.
If you take out those two plays, it would have been a solid night for the defense, which continues to play good football overall.
D'Marco Jackson was one of the best players on the field for the Bears and notched a pick, and Kyler Gordon had another sack and Austin Booker and Daniel Hardy split one.
Despite being short-handed, we've been impressed with the effort from the defense. Now, Chicago will get Montez Sweat back in Week 8, as he's eligible to come back from suspension.
Ben Johnson's gutsy call
Nobody can ever say Ben Johnson doesn't have guts.
Despite Cairo Santos having struggles from 50-plus yards this season and missing a field goal from that distance in the fourth quarter, Johnson decided to roll with Santos again on a 58-yard try in the final two minutes of the game.
There was a ton riding on the kick, as a miss would have set the Pats up near midfield with a chance to take the lead. Making the decision even riskier was the fact that Santos had never made a field goal from that distance during his career.
However, Santos repaid Johnson's faith in him by drilling the kick, which put the Bears up nine and sealed the victory for Chicago.
Had Santos missed, Johnson would have faced heavy criticism, as not only would the decision to go for the field goal be ripped, but Johnson's decision to throw on third down before that would've been ripped to shreds, also.
Malik Muhammad on injury watch
Muhammad came down with a toe injury in the third quarter of the game and did not return. It appears to have happened on his pass break-up on a deep ball to A.J. Brown.
This is obviously a situation to monitor over the next week-plus, as Muhammad has been the Bears' best cornerback this season and Jaylon Johnson and Tyrique Stevenson have been total liabilities.
The good news is, the Bears have extra rest before their Week 8 game, which takes place on Monday night.
Major concern for Cole Kmet
Kmet suffered a knee injury in the fourth quarter and did not return. Unfortunately, he needed the cart to take him off the field, so it looks like a significant injury for him.
If that ends up being the case, rookie tight end Sam Roush is going to see a massive role moving forward. Hopefully, Kmet's injury isn't as bad as it looked.
Add us as a preferred source on Google