Something felt off at Gillette Stadium before the ball was mercifully kicked off at 8:15 p.m. on Monday night.
Even before the Patriots QB situation — much like the dreary gridiron at Foxborough — became shrouded in dense fog, the writing was on the wall that New England’s latest primetime matchup wasn't going to follow any sort of traditional script.
Perhaps it was the uneven ground that Mac Jones was on entering the contest, with Bill Belichick keeping the cards close to his chest all evening when it came to his plan under center against the Bears.
Or maybe it was the uneasiness and general confusion about why the NFL decided to schedule this game in the first place for a Monday Night Football slot, especially if one was to focus on an underwhelming Bears team seemingly mired in mediocrity.
Considering the Patriots’ far-from-transparent thinking as it pertained to Jones, the status of his sprained ankle and Bailey Zappes' viability as an NFL starter for a third straight week, it wouldn’t have surprised many in the Gillette Stadium seats if the Pats' gameplan on offense was thrown into a blender against a team like Chicago.
But what few expected on a wild night at 1 Patriot Place was for New England’s defense to be the weak link — especially against this Bears team.
Perhaps that’s a bold thing to say, considering that New England’s offense — operating with the same structure and coordination as rush-hour traffic near Haymarket — was tagged for three interceptions between both Jones and Zappe, while only gaining 12 first downs and 14 total points.
Not great, to say the least.
But let’s face it. Considering all we heard about Justin Fields and the Bears’ offensive firepower (or lack thereof) … 14 points sure seemed like it probably would have been enough on Monday night, especially with this Pats' defensive unit matched up against Chicago.
New England wasn’t exactly tested in recent weeks by the Lions and Browns, no doubt. But the Bears were a grouping that should have instilled little fear into this veteran Patriots defense — having averaged just 15.5 points per game entering Monday, the third-lowest rate in the NFL.
And even if Fields’ feet were going to give the Patriots issues, his struggles when forced to throw under pressure (54.8 completion percentage entering Monday) served as a relief when compared to other dual-threat QBs like Lamar Jackson.
Of course, all of those good tidings dissipated as soon as Fields started to extend drive after drive, with New England failing to corral the QB off of a slew of designed runs and sweeps that allowed the Bears QB to run wild and move the chains.
"I mean, honestly, they were doing very simple stuff — crosses and quarterback runs," Matthew Judon said postgame. "They had a couple long third downs that the QB extended the play and guys came open. But most of them, he was running and picking up those first downs.”
New England’s current debacle at the QB position will justifiably earn most of the headlines in wake of the Patriots’ 33-14 loss to the Bears. But even if the Pats had managed to stabilize things on offense and orchestrate a second-half rally against Chicago, there was little evidence that this defense had the means to hold off Fields — a scenario that seemed laughable just a few days ago.
A lot of that pessimism falls on New England’s inability to snuff out extended drives for the Bears, with Chicago converting on 11 of its 18 third-down opportunities — including five conversions of 3rd and five-plus yards.
"They just made a lot of plays — throwing, dropping back, scrambling, more designed runs than we saw off film,” Devin McCourty said. “I think with the extended time they added some plays that I think we saw in the Baltimore game with Lamar Jackson — some of those style of plays, but we just didn't do a good job of keeping him in the pocket. ... I would just say overall, across the board as a team, that was just just a poor showing across the board, from the beginning, all the way to the end.”
Even though New England found itself in a 10-0 hole with 2:16 to go in the first quarter, the subsequent lift from Zappe’s arrival and the two-touchdown retort he provided seemed to give the Patriots the spark they needed to wake up from their sleepy start and take care of business.
But after New England took a 14-10 lead with 6:08 to go in the first half, the Bears outscored the Patriots, 23-0, for the remainder of the contest.
“We didn't get off to a good start that we've done the last few games and I think we let that kind of just crush us and we never got going again,” McCourty said. “Like yeah, we had some good plays in there. But I would say overall — we never at any point in the game played good football and they came out ready to go and they were on us. They played well for 60 minutes. And that's why the game went the way he did."
By the end of the night, the Patriots relinquished 243 rushing yards, the most they’ve given up since Week 15 of last season against the Indianapolis Colts.
On a night in which cheers for a backup QB rained down from the nosebleeds and the expected script that played out was as linear as a Tarantino flick — it’s to be expected for the airwaves to be dominated this week by the Patriots’ lack of clarity at quarterback.
But amid that deluge of gripes and fears, don’t lose track of a defense that — had it followed the script — should have been able to gut this team to a win (albeit an ugly one) against a lackluster opponent.
“If we give up 33 points — I don't care who plays quarterback, we're gonna have a tough time winning football games,” McCourty said. “I think overall as a team, I know offensively they'll figure it out and they'll get going. But I'll say defensively and special teams, if we play the way we play tonight — like I don't care who the quarterback is, we're gonna have a tough night, no matter what."