FOXBORO, Mass. — The No. 1 storyline Monday night was the Patriots’ unprecedented handling of their quarterback situation.
But New England didn’t lose to the Chicago Bears because Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe both saw time behind center. It lost because its defense could not stop Justin Fields.
The Bears’ second-year quarterback, maligned all season for his team’s punchless passing attack, tore the Patriots apart as a rusher as Chicago raced to a 33-14 win at Gillette Stadium as 8.5-point underdogs.
It was a humbling night for New England’s defense, which had locked down a pair of productive ground games in consecutive wins over Detroit and Cleveland.
“We’ve got a pretty good defense,” defensive tackle Davon Godchaux said after the game. “We’ve got a pretty good team. But tonight, we played like (expletive).”
He added: “They just wanted the game more. That’s just what it comes down to. We played terrible in all three phases, and it’s really embarrassing. Embarrassing.”
Given extra time to prepare after playing on Thursday night the previous week, Bears head coach Matt Eberflus and his staff altered the way they used the athletic Fields, calling a higher rate of designed QB runs than they had in their first six games.
The 2021 first-round draft pick thrived on those and on scrambles — including a 20-yarder that moved the chains on third-and-14 — finishing with 82 rushing yards and a touchdown on 14 carries. Seventy-four of those yards came in the first half as Chicago, which entered averaging just 15 points per game, took a 20-14 lead into the locker room.
“I thought it brought a whole different element to our offense,” Fields told reporters. “I think we executed that well. And there were definitely some explosive plays in the design runs for sure.”
During the Bill Belichick era, only two opposing quarterbacks have posted higher single-game rushing totals against the Patriots: Lamar Jackson (107) and Tim Tebow (93). That Jackson performance came just last month, in a 37-26 Baltimore Ravens victory, and Godchaux noticed some similarities.
“They attacked us in the quarterback run game, kind of like Baltimore did,” Godchaux said. “Showed some repeat plays that beat us in the past. … The quarterback runs are killing us right now.”
Fields wasn’t the only Bears ball-carrier whom New England struggled to stop Monday night. Running backs David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert combined for 124 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries, and wide receiver Dante Pettis had one carry for 29 yards. All told, the Bears rushed for 243 yards to the Patriots’ 70, a mark just five Patriots opponents have eclipsed during the Belichick era.
And though Fields’ final passing line wasn’t eye-popping (13 of 21, 179 yards, one touchdown, one interception), he hurt the Patriots through the air, too. Six of his completions gained 15 or more yards, with Bears receivers able to frequently gain separation against New England’s talented secondary.
Chicago went 11-for-18 on third down, dominated time of possession (37:14 to 22:46) and, after two quick Zappe-led touchdown drives put the Patriots up 14-10 in the second quarter, scored on five consecutive series to pull away after halftime.
“When you play as poorly as we did on third down, that’s going to lead to a lot of problems,” Belichick said Tuesday morning on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.”
The Patriots, now 3-4 on the season, must quickly rebound as they head to New York for an important AFC East matchup with the Jets. New England sits in last place in the division, trailing the 6-1 Buffalo Bills, 5-2 Jets and 4-3 Miami Dolphins.
“We’d better turn it around, because the New York Jets are playing good, and that’s a divisional game,” Godchaux said. “Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for the Patriots. I’m sure the Jets looked at the game tonight like, ‘We’re going to beat them on Sunday.’ So we’d better turn it around.”
