It's going to sound funny, but Drake Maye's first real victory as an NFL quarterback was probably his worst performance, start to finish.
He picked a good day (and opponent) to have his first real struggles against, and his defense and the coaches helped pick him up. And he wasn't all that bad, considering the windy conditions and the fact that the Bears had the No. 4 pass defense in DVOA.
Maye's biggest issue was inflicting too pressure and taking too many hits that he brought on himself. Of the 14 pressures the Bears generated, seven - half - were due to Maye's decision-making. And this isn't a one-time thing, either. Against the Titans, he accounted for another four pressures. In roughly 4.5 games this season, Maye has been responsible for 4 sacks, 10.5 hits and 2.5 hurries.
A look at the good, bad and ugly from this day against a tough Bears unit:
GOOD
The first play of the second drive, the 28-yarder to Austin Hooper, is as good of a throw and catch as you're going to see in the NFL. Outstanding, and he didn't really have any other options.
Maye's fake and throw with an unblocked rusher on the quick game to Douglas for 17 yards was really nice in the face of adversity.
Good, hard and decisive throw to Douglas for another 17 yards (and bad coverage by the Bears' linebackers).
The Bears completely busted the coverage on the 24-yard pass to Hooper on the TD drive.
Maye's best playaction fake helped on the TD pass to Polk (and another poor job by the Bears linebackers in coverage - he can't allow Polk to release like that). Boutte was going to be another option. Nice play by Alex Van Pelt.
On the final drive before halftime, Maye did a good job - even if the ball to Boutte was underthrown - of avoiding a sack on the first play after Henry wasn't looking early when Maye wanted (and had) the TE open on a slant.
Perfect throw to Boutte before the clock play and field goal.
Right after the Onwenu illegal man downfield penalty, Maye read the blitz correctly and hit Boutte on a perfect slant.
I'm still not sure how Maye got a 4-yard checkdown to Hasty completed while he was getting steamrolled because Onwenu (twist) and Lowe couldn't block it properly.
Nicely timed 12-yard in-cut to Hooper before the penultimate field goal. Good design by AVP between the Henry stop route and Hooper wrapping around.
BAD
On the play where Maye was falling out of bounds as he tried to hit KJ Osborn in the end zone (a great, Josh Allen-esque throw), he had Henry on a quick out that may have picked up the first down on 3rd and 6.
His scramble on the second play of the second quarter should have been avoided with a throw to Osborn on a deep in-cut that was open.
Maye was lucky his jumpball to Boutte was not picked off, but Polk has to block the end better than that.
On another scramble/throwaway, Maye should have just chucked the ball out of bounds after Jacobs missed the cutblock on the end - but he avoided getting hit this time.
His 19-yard scramble was totally legit and a good play, but Maye had plenty of time to slide and took another unnecessary hit.
UGLY
On the second play of the game, the Patriots ran all quick, short routes and Maye (after picking up the bad snap from Ben Brown) had options between Henry, Hooper and Boutte. He wound up running up into pressure and doing a dangerous jump pass that exposed him to a hit. Yeah, we can't be doing that very often.
Maye's scramble and the hellacious hit he took on 3rd and 5 on the second drive were completely unnecessary. He left the pocket way too quickly under no pressure and had Douglas and Henry open for possible touchdowns.
On the play where Maye ended up throwing lefty, Hooper was wide open and the back was another option.
The Bears were all over the interception play. That just has to be thrown out of bounds.
On the third-down throw slightly behind Douglas, who wisely sat in the zone before he got killed by the LB, Maye had Henry possibly on the over, but Hooper was completely uncovered in the right flat.
A good play from Maye and AVP - their best stretch play-action of the season (15 yards to Boutte, and Henry was open as well) - was robbed by Mike Onwenu's illegal man downfield penalty. It was close but a legit call.
On the last pass of the third quarter on 3rd and 10, Maye drifted right and back 12 yards behind the line of scrimmage and took a big hit. If you go back beyond 10 yards, that's on the QB and not Demontrey Jacobs.
Fortunate the pass to Henry in the end zone was not intercepted.
On the final field goal drive. Maye absolutely did not need to climb the pocket and get hit by two Bears defenders hard — Henry was wide open on another Bears bust almost immediately.
_________________
Should be a good learning experience for Maye, especially playing below his level and still getting the win. A lot of teachable moments on tape that I'm sure will serve him in the future, and the Bears' pass defense is a formidable unit.
The Patriots need to keep up the ground attack. Van Pelt showed more versatility basically spinning the dial between duo downhill inside runs, some wide zone, and some power/counter runs (seemed like he lifted a lot of what the Cardinals did the week before). It definitely helped get the running game going. Not sure it's sustainable against other teams (Bears run defense was 30th in DVOA) but at least it's on film.
Of course, the gameball goes to DeMarcus Covington/Jerod Mayo and the defense (with an assist to now-fired Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron) for just smoothing the Bears. Deatrich Wise, Keion White, Anfernee Jennings and Jeremiah Pharms absolutely dominated the undermanned Bears offensive line. Covington seemed to solve some back end coverage issues with Jonathan Jones getting 22 snaps at free safety —where coverage busts from, especially, Jaylinn Hawkins had been a growing issue. And as we've been pounding the table for, the Patriots played their highest percentage of man coverage this season. I wonder what the top three games in man coverage percentage have in common in the following chart?
Oh yeah ... WINS (all three of them).
Patriots coaches needs to keep doing their job of solving problems and presenting issues for the opponent, especially as they take another step up the competition ladder on Sunday against the Rams.
A look at some of the issues in the first half as I graded the film:
Here are the positional ratings against the Bears:
OFFENSE
Quarterback (2 out of 5)
This was my lowest-graded game for Maye in a start, surpassing the Texans' game. It was the lowest-graded QB game since Jacoby Brissett against the Dolphins. The good news? Most of his issues were about inviting pressure. That's not a huge deal — it's part of the learning an athletic QB has to go through (pocket QBs don't have to deal with it) but it's been trending the wrong way the last two starts. At least he cut his sack rate just about in half to 3.8%. It seemed like one of the points of emphasis for the entire offense was to limit negative plays, and Maye helped with that.
Running backs (2 out of 5)
Rhamondre Stevenson almost took out Maye picking up the blitz as he was throwing in the left flat to Boutte in the second quarter. Barely avoided disaster. ... Stevenson continues to contribute some great blitz pickups and had more tough running (especially on the 4th down pickup), but he and Ja'Mychal Hasty left some yards on the field with 2.5 stuffed runs between them.
Receivers (2.5 out of 5)
Van Pelt seems to be getting Demario Douglas touches a priority and he's been rewarding them with standout plays, especially in space. ... Austin Hooper had the great 28-yard snag against tight coverage, but his 24-yarder was a complete coverage bust by the Bears. ... Hunter Henry only had one catch for 14 yards (another bust) but he had five standout run blocks and was a key player in how the run game got going again. Very unselfish. ...
Offensive line (3.5 out of 5)
Like how Van Pelt mixed different run concepts to help his line out. It was long overdue. ... Mike Onwenu still isn't playing to his level - his sack can't happen on the first drive - but everyone up front was largely solid, outside Michael Jordan. ... Ben Brown and Demontrey Jacobs were the standouts in this game. Please keep this unit together, I'm begging you. Don't pull another Titans game.
DEFENSE
Defensive line (4.5 out of 5)
If you take out Daniel Ekuale, who got run over in the running game, Jerry Montgomery's unit was just about perfect. ... Deatrich Wise, Anfernee Jennings and Keion White absolutely dominated on the edge. ... Jeremiah Pharms was a revelation on the inside with six impactful plays on only 35 snaps (I think he took some of Jacquelin Roy's snaps because the coaches saw Pharms was on a heater). ... Top-notch stuff out of this group.
Linebackers (4 out of 5)
Since bottoming out against Houston and Jacksonville (-9 combined), Jahlani Tavai has been on a heater with a +7.5 in the last three games. His only blemish against the Bears was a penalty. ... I barely noticed Sione Takitaki, Curtis Jacobs and Joe Giles-Harris so that usually means solid play, if unspectacular.
Secondary (4 out of 5)
While some of the Bears' issues were self-inflicted, the Patriots also continued to provide great coverage - and an actual pass rush helped them. ... Marcus Jones was the standout a pass breakup, third-down coverage, a third-down run back and a standout run tackle. He plays bigger than his size, plus he continues to impress on punt returns. ... Good wrinkle putting Jonathan Jones at free safety and dropping Jaylinn Hawkins to strong safety, where he can do less damage in pass coverage. ... Marco Wilson continues to have a tough time in coverage. Rams week would be a good time to insert Alex Austin, who's a definite upgrade. ... Not sure how Marte Mapu avoided a neutral zone penalty over center before Caleb Williams wisely took a shot. Should have been flagged. ... Brenden Schooler looked like a natural in the Longhorns package. I mean, he does run and tackle like a mad man so it made sense - another good wrinkle. More of those please.
The defense as whole had a Belichickian-esque performance from the gameplan wrinkles and top-flight execution. The unit had 45 impactful plays and just 15 minus plays (+30). Through the first eight games, the entire defense was just a +35. Bravo! It was damn fun watching good defensive football again. Now do it against the Rams.
THREE UP
The Edge Boys (Deatrich Wise, Anfernee Jennings, Keion White): I couldn't separate them as each had 7 impactful plays and totaled 12.5 of the team's 21 pressures, including 5 sacks. They kicked the ever-loving crap of the Bears' tackles, who are down to about their 4th and 5th OTs.
DT Jeremiah Pharms: Not sure where it came from, but six impactful plays (1.5 sacks, 2.5 stuffs, hurry) on only 35 snaps is good stuff.
TE Hunter Henry: Only had one catch for 14 yards (another bust) but he had five standout run blocks and was a key player in how the run game got going again.
FOUR DOWN
DT Daniel Ekuale: Was on the field for 17 runs … got run over 5 times.
WR KJ Osborn: Didn't contribute much and I'm not sure why Kendrick Bourne had to sit for him - it was likely disciplinary. Osborn had one route where I had no idea what he was doing except getting in Henry's way, and run block where he blocked no one and allowed a stuffed run. Not good.
LG Michael Jordan: This wasn't as bad as Jacksonville or Tennessee, but he continued his poor stretch. He's a minus-28 in the last four games. He was a -10 in the first five.
QB Drake Maye: Didn't see the field clearly for much the game and took way too many hits. He'll learn from playing a tough opponent.