The Patriots are heading into a Week 7 trip to Chicago with a new opponent on deck and only a short history to lean on. Thursday Night Football will bring New England and the Bears together for just the 17th time, a series that has tilted heavily toward the Patriots in the regular season but still carries one memory New England would rather forget.
That regular-season edge is real. The Patriots own an 11-5 lead in the matchup and have taken six of the last eight meetings since 2000. Among those wins were a wild comeback in 2002, when Tom Brady and company rallied from a 27-6 hole late in the third quarter to pull out a 33-30 victory, and a 51-23 rout in 2014, when Rob Gronkowski scored three touchdowns and controlled the game.
The first time these teams met came three years after the AFL-NFL merger, and it was a grind from start to finish. At Soldier Field, the two sides produced only 98 net passing yards combined and turned the ball over six times.
New England forced five of those takeaways, and Jim Plunkett finished the job in the fourth quarter with a 5-yard quarterback keeper that delivered a 13-10 Patriots win. Neither team had much of a season in 1973, but that opener still gave New England the early edge in the series.
Then there’s the game that stands out most, even if it belongs to Chicago. Super Bowl XX is the Bears’ signature moment against the Patriots.
New England opened with a 3-0 lead and became the first team to score against Chicago’s famous 46 defense in that postseason, but the rest of the afternoon went off the rails. The Bears scored 44 straight points, including William “Refrigerator” Perry’s 1-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, and Raymond Berry’s team finished with only 123 net yards and six turnovers in a 46-10 loss.
At the time, it was the most lopsided defeat in Super Bowl history.
The Patriots and Bears meet again Thursday at 8:20 p.m. ET.
In Other News...
Drake Maye Faces His Biggest Test Since Heating Up
Drake Maye has turned a corner for New England at just the right time, and Sundays matchup with Chicago gives the Patriots another chance to see how real that growth is. Over the last stretch, Maye has looked far more comfortable attacking downfield, and that development matters against a Bears defense that has had trouble holding up on deeper throws. On the other side, Caleb Williams has been working through his own learning curve while operating Chicagos offense with a shorter passing profile than the kind that can stress a secondary vertically.
For New England, the test is less about whether Maye can keep making the routine plays and more about whether he can keep forcing defenses out of their comfort zone when the windows get tighter. Chicagos availability on the back end adds another layer to the matchup, and the Patriots will be watching closely to see whether their young quarterback can keep the deep-ball momentum going against a unit that has had to patch together answers in the secondary. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Face A Familiar Problem In A Very Winnable Bears Game
The Patriots head into a winnable matchup with Chicago carrying the same kind of offensive uncertainty that has followed them for stretches this season. New Englands line is again under the microscope, with injury questions surfacing at guard and along the right side, and that only adds pressure in a game where protection, rhythm and staying ahead of the chains could matter as much as anything the passing game does.
Chicago brings its own concerns, but the part of the Bears that most fits the Patriots' defensive attention is the ground game. With one key back unavailable, DAndre Swift figures to be a major part of the plan, and New England will have to be ready for a rushing attack that can control tempo if it gets rolling. For a Patriots team trying to turn a favorable spot into an actual result, the line play on both sides could end up deciding whether this one looks manageable or familiar in all the wrong ways. [Read more 🡒]
Drake Maye Is Betting Patriots Fans Will Stay Patient With A.J. Brown
A.J. Browns return from a high ankle sprain did not go the way the Patriots hoped, as the receiver was active again but came away with a quiet afternoon and a few costly miscues. After missing time, Brown was back in the lineup and immediately became a focal point in the offense, which only sharpened the attention on how he looked and how quickly he could shake off the rust.
Drake Maye is not sounding alarmed, though, and the quarterbacks confidence in Brown adds an important layer as New England turns its focus to the Bears. For the Patriots, the bigger question is whether Browns timing and comfort can sharpen quickly enough to make his return feel more like a turning point than a temporary detour. [Read more 🡒]