A.J. Brown gets another shot at redemption this week, and the Patriots are back on the road with a short turnaround, a swollen injury report and a matchup that feels a lot less forgiving than the one they just handled.
They arrive in Chicago riding a three-game winning streak and sitting at 4-2, which says plenty about how sturdy this team has been through six games. September brought real concern around third-year quarterback Drake Maye.
The Patriots opened 1-2. The offensive line has been constantly rearranged by injuries.
Every time one receiver comes back, another seems to go down.
Still, they keep finding answers. Maye has looked like an MVP candidate again.
The line did not allow a sack against the Jets even after losing three starters. Brown returned last week, and the defense has been smart and forceful.
So the question hanging over this trip is simple: how long can they keep absorbing hits before it finally catches up to them?
There are a few names worth watching beyond Maye.
Brown is the obvious one after last week’s mess. He spent four weeks on injured reserve with a high ankle sprain, came back against the Jets, and produced what felt in the moment like one of the worst receiver performances in NFL history.
Brown caught three of 10 targets for 27 yards, dropped at least two passes, and five throws that hit his hands still weren’t caught. He also chest-bumped an onside kick late in the game, though DeMario Douglas recovered it.
The one bright spot: Brown was getting open repeatedly.
There’s also plenty of precedent for a star receiver having a brutal afternoon. Stanley Morgan had a September 1978 game against Washington in which he caught 1 of 10 targets for 33 yards and a touchdown. Randy Moss, meanwhile, had three catches on 10 targets for 26 yards in a 30-10 Patriots loss to the Chargers in October 2008.
Then there’s Joe Thuney, who has quietly become the kind of lineman every team wants and every former team misses. The four-time Super Bowl champion and three-time first-team All-Pro is now in his second season as Chicago’s steady left guard.
He was drafted by the Patriots in the third round in 2016, in a class that included Cyrus Jones, Jacoby Brissett and Malcolm Mitchell, but left in free agency after four seasons to sign a five-year, $80-million deal with the Chiefs. If Bill Belichick had paid him, the Cole Strange selection in the first round of the 2022 draft likely never happens.
Luther Burden III is another player to keep an eye on. The second-year receiver just had his best game of the season, catching all eight of his targets for 95 yards in the win over the Falcons. Rome Odunze may be viewed as Chicago’s No. 1 receiver, but Burden is the more dangerous one.
The old Patriots-Bears pain file also gets reopened this week. In Super Bowl XX, the 1985 Patriots had two huge chances early that slipped away.
Stanley Morgan dropped what would have been a 20-yard touchdown on the opening possession, forcing New England to settle for a Tony Franklin field goal. On the Bears’ next snap, Jim McMahon threw directly to Don Blackmon, who had open field in front of him but could not hang on to the interception.
It’s not hard to imagine the Patriots up 14-0 before the game had really started.
Instead, they were crushed 46-10, the largest Super Bowl margin of victory to that point.
The last Patriots-Bears meeting came in Week 10 of the 2024 season, when New England won 19-3 at Soldier Field. That was Drake Maye’s first win in a game he played from start to finish, and it looked like a turning point.
The Patriots sacked Caleb Williams nine times, while Maye posted 15 completions on 25 attempts for 184 yards, one touchdown and one interception. His early throw to Austin Hooper for a 28-yard gain was one of the first moments that really showed off his arm talent.
What followed made that win look like an outlier of the Jerod Mayo Coaching Experience. The Patriots dropped their next six games, then won only once more - on the final day of the season against the Bills - and that victory ended up costing them the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
As for Sunday, the history in Chicago leans New England’s way. The Patriots have won four straight there, and the Bears’ last home win in the series came on Dec. 10, 2000, when Shane Matthews went 22 of 27 for 239 yards and two touchdowns in a 24-17 Bears victory.
This Bears team is better than that one, and better than the version the Patriots saw a year ago. The pick here: Bears 31, Patriots 24.
In Other News...
Patriots Need DeMario Douglas To Answer For A Costly Mistake
The Patriots are trying to steady a 1-2 start while dealing with injuries and turnover issues, and DeMario Douglas remains one of the few bright spots in the passing game. The second-year receiver has given the offense a needed spark over the last month, becoming a more consistent target as New England searches for answers around him.
Against the Jets, though, Douglas put the ball on the ground in a moment that stood out in a game already shaped by mistakes. He has already acknowledged the error and knows the Patriots need cleaner play from a player they are counting on even more now, with injuries thinning out the rest of the offensive options. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Injury Report Puts Two Critical Position Groups In Focus
The Patriots injury report on Wednesday put a couple of key spots under the microscope as they began to turn the page toward Chicago. Carlton Davis III was back on the field in a limited capacity after missing multiple practices and games with a neck injury, a sign that New England is at least getting some movement in the right direction on defense. There were still several players working as non-participants or limited participants, leaving the coaching staff to manage another week with the roster in flux.
The bigger concern, though, sits in the trenches, where Mike Vrabel sounded pessimistic about the teams guard depth for the upcoming matchup with the Bears. With the line already dealing with uncertainty, the Patriots may have to piece things together again up front if the availability picture does not improve later in the week. For a team trying to stabilize both protection and physicality, the injury report feels especially important this time around. [Read more 🡒]
A.J. Brown Reacts As Jalen Hurts Faces A Serious Health Setback
Jalen Hurts latest health scare has sent a ripple through the NFL, and it naturally hit close to home for anyone who spent time around the Eagles quarterback room. Hurts is undergoing treatment after a diagnosis that is expected to keep him out for the 2026 season, but the encouraging part is that doctors expect a full recovery once he is cleared to return to normal life and, eventually, football.
A.J. Brown, now with the Patriots after his run in Philadelphia, was among those publicly showing support for his former quarterback. For New England fans, it is a reminder of how tightly connected Hurts still is to former teammates around the league, even as the football side of the story takes a back seat to a much more important one. The immediate concern is Hurts health, and the next step is simply waiting for him to move through treatment and get back to football activities when he is medically able. [Read more 🡒]