Bill Belichick Bypasses Crediting Patriots, Shades Bears After Blowout

Bill Belichick believes the New England Patriots earned their third win of the season because the opposing Chicago Bears stink.

The legendary head coach expressed as much when he made his weekly appearance on the “Pat McAfee Show” on Monday.

Belichick was asked specifically about the play of Drake Maye, and how Belichick felt about the rookie quarterback taking on a leadership role. Belichick, who has used his platform to take shots at Jerod Mayo’s team in recent weeks, addressed the topic by largely throwing shade at Chicago rather than crediting Maye or the Patriots.

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“Well, I think he’s (Maye) done a good job when he’s been able to scramble and run around,” Belichick told McAfee. “Made some plays on play action where they can separate the defense ’cause the running game, when (Rhamondre) Stevenson can get it going draws some of the coverage and the linebackers up, and so forth.

“But to me, the bigger thing is just where the Bears are. I mean, they can’t protect, they can’t move the ball, they can’t score any points.”

New England’s defense sacked Bears quarterback Caleb Williams nine (!) times at Soldier Field. The Patriots handcuffed the Chicago offense to the tune of 2.4 yards per play.

“We talked about this at the beginning of the year in Chicago,” Belichick said. “They have this all-star quarterback, these all-star receivers, the greatest skill players in the history of football and the offensive line is a problem. They can’t run the ball. They can’t protect. (D’Andre) Swift is doing all he can but, you know, it’s hard.

“Then you get into the situation where too many negative plays, too many turnovers, too many long-yardage situations. It’s been a tough — look, they’ve had the benefit of the schedule, we’ll see how it goes here with the Bears.”

If you’ve been following along, Belichick’s sentiments probably won’t come as much of a surprise. The former head coach didn’t speak on the Patriots after the team’s Week 1 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. He took similar aim at the New York Jets after New England’s second win of the season.

Belichick’s criticisms of the Bears certainly are fair. Chicago’s inability to protect Williams was far and away New England’s biggest advantage. But perhaps some of that credit goes to how the Patriots schemed up their defensive plan, as it proved to be a much-improved performance by Mayo’s coaching staff.