CHICAGO – The Patriots battled for four quarters at Soldier Field but fell 30-24 to the Bears in a Thursday Night Football classic.

Earlier in the week, head coach Mike Vrabel highlighted the Bears physicality and ability to possess the ball offensively as a challenge on a short week. Although the Patriots showed resilience to hang in Thursday night's game, Chicago eventually out-snapped New England by 16 plays (66-50), and the Bears physical offense stood out as Caleb Williams got the better of Drake Maye in Thursday night's loss.

The Bears offense forced the Patriots defense to miss 16 tackles while racking up 149 yards after the catch and 85 rushing yards after contact, speaking to their physicality and possibly some fatigue for the Pats defense. Maye was mostly great behind a short-handed offensive line, but a red-zone interception, followed by an 80-yard touchdown drive by the Bears, was a huge sequence in the second quarter. Overall, New England didn't have enough to beat a good Bears team on the road without several key pieces on the roster due to mounting injuries.

"Tackling wasn't good enough, not against this team. We knew coming in, especially on a Thursday night," Vrabel said. "I like the way we competed and certainly gave ourselves a chance, but not good enough."

Although winning is all that matters, the Patriots deserve some credit for showing fight while undermanned on a short week. The Bears had multiple two-score leads and chances to take complete control of Thursday night's game, which at times felt like it was headed for a blowout. Instead, Maye made several terrific plays to give his team a puncher's chance, while the defense prevented Bears scores on two straight drives to get the ball back to the offense, which couldn't get the go-ahead score at 27-21 in the second half.

In the coming days, the Patriots can take a soft reset on a mini-bye week before playing the Dolphins a week from Sunday. Obviously, getting as many players back as possible would be ideal. However, the Patriots need to clean up a few things for Miami. First, the fundamentals defensively, from tackling to being assignment-sound in zone coverage, need to improve. Second, they need to run the ball more effectively to balance the offense (-0.40 EPA per rush, 20% success rate vs. Chicago). That said, the general feeling in the post-game locker room was that this was too good teams that battled on Thursday night, with players believing the Patriots are close to being the team they want to be this season.

Here are eight takeaways as the Patriots drop to 4-3 after a Week 7 loss to the Bears.

1. Play of the Game: RB Rhamondre Stevenson Scores 48-Yard TD Before Halftime

Although it came in a loss, the Patriots kept themselves in the game with a nifty 48-yard touchdown pass to RB Rhamondre Stevenson that caught the Bears by surprise before the half.

Up 20-7, Chicago headed into halftime with a two-score lead and the opening second-half possession in their back pocket. New England hit an 18-yard deep in-cut to WR A.J. Brown, setting up a chance to make a play toward the end zone. Then, instead of running a Hail Mary, OC Josh McDaniels called a play that the Patriots have been holding in their back pocket since McDaniels returned as offensive coordinator last season. According to Stevenson, the Pats have been waiting two years to run the play call in that situation.

"I was trying to make a play to put my team in position to swing the game," Stevenson said.

As for the play design, the Patriots came out in a 3x1 formation against the Bears "Hail Mary" coverage, with Chicago lining up two deep safeties on the goal line. The Bears then sent a five-man pressure at Maye while the solo receiver (A.J. Brown) ran across the field as the three receivers to Maye's right ran vertical routes. Brown clearing out his side allowed Stevenson to sneak into the flat, which got the play started. Then, WR DeMario Douglas made a key block that let Stevenson cut back into the middle of the field for the final 20 yards.

Unfortunately, the Patriots sprung the play call on the Bears defense in a loss, but it was still well-designed, and a great run-after-catch by Stevenson to get it to 20-14 at the half.

2. QB Drake Maye Laments Red-Zone Interception in Thursday Night Loss

Speaking at the podium after the game, a clearly frustrated Maye lamented several times his red-zone interception that swung the game in the Bears favor in the second quarter.

However, Maye was a huge reason the Patriots stayed competitive on Thursday night. The Pats QB was 24-of-31 for 321 passing yards, three total touchdowns, and an interception. Maye posted an identical EPA per drop-back to Bears QB Caleb Williams (+0.34) while registering a 74.6 total QBR (out of 100). With high efficiency, Maye was also 8-of-9 for 113 passing yards and a TD under pressure vs. the Bears.

In particular, Maye began to make plays against the Bears pressure fronts once he got a feel for Chicago's blitz package, with several "plus" plays on scramble drills. Above, Maye saved a third down by finding TE Hunter Henry off-script to convert a 3rd-and-7. In the play, the Pats are in their split-back formation to block Chicago's blitz. The Bears bring two rushers to overload the right edge, with Henry blocking the inside threat and Stevenson coming across to make a great block on the nickel defender. Maye left the pocket, shrugged off a sack attempt, and found Henry, who released late for a 13-yard completion.

After throwing an interception on the same play earlier, the Patriots came back to rookie TE Eli Raridon later in the game. This time, Maye didn't miss, with Raridon winning the foot race up the seam against LB Devin Bush for a 30-yard touchdown—a good example of Maye operating well in structure.

Although the Patriots didn't get the win, Vrabel described it best when he was asked about Maye's performance following Thursday night's game: "I'm glad he's ours."

3. Pats Defense Struggles With Bears HC Ben Johnson, QB Caleb Williams in Loss

After the game, several defensive players credited Bears head coach Ben Johnson and quarterback Caleb Williams for their performances Thursday night.

Johnson's offense is one of the hardest to defend in the NFL, especially on a short week with limited game prep. He creates favorable leverage for receivers, marries run and play-action passes well, and creates angles and stresses defensive backs to tackle in the run game. Chicago's scheme and young QB were on full display on Thursday night, with Williams matched Maye in efficiency (+0.34 EPA per drop-back).

On some occasions, the Bears generated explosives with some Williams magic. On a key 3rd-and-11 in the fourth quarter, the Patriots sent a blitz at Williams that got home. However, Williams avoided a sack by eluding LB Christian Elliss's blitz in the backfield, reset in the pocket with his eyes downfield, and ripped a throw to WR Rome Odunze for a new set of downs.

The Patriots struggled to defend in zone coverage, with the Bears QB going 14-of-18 for 208 yards and a TD vs. zone. Above, New England appears to bust a coverage with Elliss and CB Charles Woods both ending up in the flat in cover-two. With two defenders in the same spot, the Pats are short a middle hook in their short zone distribution, and Williams finds WR Luther Burden for a 58-yard gain.

Over the last few weeks, the Patriots have busted more zone coverages than usual, with Burden's explosive this week and a 48-yard TD by Jets WR Omar Cooper Jr. last week. During the mini-bye, the Pats defense has to clean up their zone structures to limit the big plays.

4. WR A.J. Brown Continues Quiet Start to Return From Injured Reserve

After struggling with drops last week, Brown had another relatively quiet night by his standards, catching three passes for 48 yards on six targets. Brown led all Pats wideouts with 46 snaps, and had another deep-ball opportunity that he couldn't finish. Maye targeted Brown on a 45-yard pass that the Pats QB dropped in the bucket, but Brown couldn't finish through contact. Bears CB Malik Muhammad swiped down on Brown's hands a beat early, but that's a catch you'd like to see Brown make. The Pats wideout ran a nice route on a 16-yard comebacker later. Still, New England needs more out of its star wide receiver moving forward.

5. Patriots Short-Handed O-Line Battles vs. Bears Defense on Thursday Night

Look, the Patriots are on their third-string guards at this point (LG Rouse, RG Pryor), and RT Morgan Moses is gutting it out for the team on a bad foot, so I'm going to grade the O-Line on a bit of a curve. This was the 10th different starting offensive line combination for the Patriots this season, and they used just seven different combinations in all of 2025. The run game struggles are an issue, as the offense is too Maye-centric at times because it can't find a consistent run game, which has put the Pats in too many third-and-pass situations.

As for pass protection, it was more scheme than 1-on-1 losses that beat the Patriots, with Moses as the only lineman to give up multiple pressures on initial viewing (three). The penalties were also costly, with 4 of 5 starters getting flagged at some point, including multiple false starts. For what it's worth, the explanation on LT Will Campbell's false start on a key fourth down in the second half was that he was moving his hand too aggressively in his set.

Chicago's schemed rushes, especially early, were a problem, which Maye took some of the responsibility for not getting the protections set properly. Overall, the passing offense still operated efficiently with a 42.9% pressure rate (NGS) while the run-blocking was poor. Again, it's tough to be overly critical of this group given the injuries that have hit the room.

6. RB Corey Kiner Earns More Opportunities, But Stevenson Carries the Load Once Again

After his clock-killing drive last week, the Patriots gave third-back Corey Kiner six snaps on offense this week, with him having more rush attempts (four carries, 13 yards) than second-year RB TreVeyon Henderson (three carries, 9 yards). Vrabel said after the game that Henderson is going to help this football team, which is true, but Kiner's ability to make himself small and find clean entry points through the line of scrimmage is notable. Stevenson had the best run of the night on a 13-yard FB wham scheme, but ultimately, the Patriots 20% rushing success rate ranks in the sixth percentile – the running game overall is a big work in progress.

7. Rookie Gabe Jacas Logs Five Pressures, Run Stuff as Defensive Bright Spot

One bright spot in the loss for the Patriots defense was the play of second-rounder Gabe Jacsa, who continues to flash. On one of his pressures, Jacas bull-rushed LT Ozzy Trapilo into Williams's lap, which forced the Bears QB to drop his eyes on a sack that was cleaned up by NCB Marcus Jones. Jacas's power profile is translating to the pro game, which is great to see, while the rookie bemoaned the fact that his pressures aren't leading to sacks yet. Each week, Jacas is one of my favorite players to watch on this Patriots team.

8. Special Teams Gives Up 47-yard KO Return, Bears K Cairo Santos Gets Last Laugh

Lastly, the Patriots had a breakdown in kickoff coverage when Bears return man Zavion Thomas had a 47-yard return that set up the Bears at the NE 43 on a field goal drive in the second quarter. The Pats got another good punting performance by Mitch Wishnowsky (two I20s) and K Andy Borregales made a 47-yard field goal and all his extra points. However, Santos was the story, rebounding from a 53-yard missed field goal by drilling a 58-yarder that put the Bears in front by two scores late in the game – that was a ballsy kick by Santos.

The Patriots will now reset with a mini-bye week before beginning preparations for another divisional matchup with the Dolphins in Miami in Week 8.

DISCLAIMER: The views and thoughts expressed in this article are those of the writer and don't necessarily reflect those of the organization. Read Full Disclaimer