CHICAGO — Welcome to the Friday Five — gameday edition!
Every week during the NFL regular season, I drop five Patriots-related thoughts on Friday to recap the week that was in Foxboro and look ahead to kickoff. This week, we’ll cover Thursday night’s game against the Bears.
Ready, set, football.
#### 1\. A well-earned defeat
In order to simply hang around Thursday night, the Patriots needed more than Drake Maye extending the ball mere millimeters across the goal line for what has to be the closest touchdown call of the NFL season.
They needed more than Rhamondre Stevenson rolling 48 yards on the last play of the first half for another impossible touchdown.
They needed a makeable Bears field goal to clang off the upright with 7:57 left in the fourth quarter to have a shot at completing their comeback.
And even then, with favorable field position and all the luck a team could ask for, they blew it. Maye and the offense went three-and-out, which led right into Chicago’s game-sealing drive. Even if it took a 58-yard field goal in the end, the Pats deserved to lose.
Maye short-armed a terrible pick in the red zone. The defense missed more than a dozen tackles. The Patriots took 10 penalties, many of the mind-numbing variety.
There was Gabe Jacas’ roughing the passer call almost two full seconds after Caleb Williams had released the ball in the first half. There was Matt Pryor’s false start to open the fourth quarter, which turned a fourth-and-2 snap into a Mike Vrabel call for the punt team. Then defensive tackle Cory Durden jumped offside to give the Bears a fresh set of downs coming out of the two-minute warning.
A sloppy performance. A losing effort. A deserved result.
#### 2\. Maye’s rhythm
The Bears put the Patriots’ offense in a headlock almost immediately.
How? By burying Maye under pressure.
To kill the Pats’ opening drive, Chicago mostly bailed out of an all-out blitz look while a cornerback simultaneously came free off the right edge to sack Maye on fourth down. Then, the Bears generated a free rusher at Maye by blitzing another corner from the left side on the next third down. Incomplete.
It wasn’t until two drives later, following another Patriots punt, that Maye started to apply pressure of his own. He escaped a closing pass rush and extended a first-down play early in the second quarter that resulted in a 16-yard pass to Hunter Henry. He looked like vintage Maye.
A few plays later, he scrambled for the touchdown. He dodged Bears pass rushers most of the rest of the night, successfully keeping a Patriots offense with two third-string guards afloat until it finally sunk him. Maye’s ability to survive pressure allowed the Pats to survive despite all their mistakes.
Maye finished 11-of-12 for 133 yards and two sacks under pressure, continuing a remarkable in-season turnaround driven by his performance in that exact time and place. Now, the Pats need to step up around him.
#### 3\. Basic problem
The Bears averaged more than five yards per carry against the Patriots’ nickel personnel, AKA defenses with five defensive backs on the field. That forced the Pats to turn to their base groupings with only four defensive backs, a heavier grouping that’s better against the run but more susceptible versus the pass.
No surprise, Chicago hit them through the air, with Caleb Williams going 7-of-9 for 73 yards and a sack against base defense. This is a problem now for the Pats, who can’t rely on their run defense from nickel personnel. The Jets exploited this, too, and hit the Patriots over the head with play-action throws when they deployed base defense, including Geno Smith’s 48-yard touchdown pass.
How did Williams fare off play-action?
Try 10-of-15 for 161 yards and one sack.
#### 4\. What can Brown do for them?
Before Christian Gonzalez signed his extension, A.J. Brown was set to be the Patriots’ highest-paid player this season.
The Pats traded more than a first-round pick to acquire him. This, so far, is unacceptable, recent injury or no injury.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reported last weekend the Patriots had always circled last weekend’s game against the Jets for his return. Brown dropped three passes then, and had two catches for 34 yards in Chicago before a meaningless 14-yard grab on the final drive.
When will the real A.J. Brown emerge? His new team needs him ASAP.
#### 5\. Did you know?
Thursday night was the first time Mike Vrabel has played or coached at Soldier Field.
Vrabel played 14 seasons in the NFL, then spent four years in Houston as an assistant and is now in his eighth season as a head coach between Tennessee and New England.