Thursday night gave the Patriots exactly the kind of game they couldn’t afford to waste. They walked into Chicago already dealing with the strain of a short week, another player landing on injured reserve before Week 7, and the sense that they needed more from this matchup than the Bears did. Instead, the same problems that have trailed them all season showed up under the lights and dragged them down again.
The result was a mistake-filled loss that left plenty to sort through over the next 11 days. New England kept handing Chicago opportunities, and even when the Bears opened the door for a comeback, the Patriots couldn’t push through.
Josh McDaniels opened aggressively, dialing up a 4th-and-5 try on the first drive. It was the kind of decision that shows confidence, especially since he hasn’t gone that route much this season. But it didn’t land, and the Bears turned that sequence into a field goal before adding a touchdown not long after.
The play-calling drew more scrutiny as the game went on. McDaniels stayed with early-down runs that weren’t producing anything, and the offense was stuck going nowhere fast. It’s a pattern he seemed to have adjusted away from in recent weeks, but it held the Patriots back when they needed to find rhythm early.
There was also a painful flashback to last year’s draft decision when Luther Burden made his mark. The Bears wideout ripped off a 58-yard catch that set up field-goal range and eventually led to Chicago’s first touchdown. He finished the first half with 4 catches for 130 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Drake Maye had his own rough moment late in the first half. After guiding an impressive drive into the end zone, he tried to force a throw to Eli Raridon and ended up adding another turnover to a season already cluttered with them. Mike Vrabel has called the team’s turnovers “ridiculous” and “embarrassing,” and this one fit right into that pile.
From ESPN Research: Drake Maye's third interception on a pass thrown to the end zone this season, the only quarterback with multiple such interceptions.
- Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) October 23, 2026
The flags kept hurting the Patriots, too. More than once, the defense looked ready to get Chicago off the field, only for penalties to give the Bears fresh life. That kind of self-inflicted damage has become too familiar for this team, and it keeps turning manageable stretches into messes.
Then there was the tackling, which showed up as a problem again. Next Gen Stats had New England missing 10 tackles in the first half alone.
Marcus Jones led the team with 4, including one on Colston Loveland on the opening third-quarter touchdown, a play that looked tied to the size mismatch. The Patriots had already set a season high with 8 missed tackles last week, so the issue didn’t exactly come out of nowhere.
Some of the worst tackling I've seen from the Patriots under Vrabel.
- Chris Mason (@ByChrisMason) October 23, 2026
Even with all of that, Maye kept flashing the kind of production that’s been building over the past month. For a quarterback who didn’t stack up 300 yards or three-plus touchdowns in games early in his career, he’s suddenly piling up big numbers. Against the Bears, he threw for 2 touchdowns and ran for another, adding another multi-touchdown game to his season.
The officials were part of the conversation again, too. The Patriots had several calls they’d argue loudly, including what looked like clear helmet-to-helmet contact and a facemask on Maye during his impressive-reach touchdown.
There were questionable accepted penalties mixed in as well. Still, the larger message for New England is the same one that keeps surfacing: don’t create more chances for the refs to matter by making avoidable mistakes.
In the end, the Patriots did make Chicago sweat. The game stayed close all the way down to the wire, and despite the turnovers, penalties and missed tackles, New England still had a chance. Maye’s interception loomed largest in the final accounting, but the team at least fought long enough to keep it interesting.
Maybe that’s not enough to feel good about. But after a night like this, it’s at least something to carry into the break.
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Johnsons production this season has been modest by his own standards, with 19 total tackles and one tackle for loss in seven games, and the moment only adds more fuel to the debate around his place in the Bears future. He is under a four-year, $76 million contract, so every missed tackle and every public critique lands with a little more weight now, especially with questions swirling about how Chicago will evaluate his role and any future contract talks. [Read more 🡒]