The Patriots and what went wrong Monday night vs Chicago
The New England Patriots took on the Chicago Bears last night in a Monday Night Football matchup at Gillette Stadium.
A lot of people, including myself, were expecting an easy Patriots win. What we as fans got was the complete opposite!
The Bears obliterated the Patriots 33-14 and sent the Patriots back to under .500, currently now 3-4. So what went wrong last night against the Chicago Bears?
The New England Patriots couldn’t stop the run
This isn’t the first time that this has happened to the Patriots and it certainly won’t be the last.
The Patriots gave up nearly 250 yards on the ground last night. But 82 of those yards came from the legs of Bears quarterback Justin Fields.
Fields was able to get yardage on the ground with designed runs and scrambles coming from broken plays.
David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert also had 62 yards on the ground each. So right there, that’s 226 yards on the ground, not good at all!
Remember last week when the Patriots shut down the Browns running attack of Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt? This defense didn’t look even close to the same as they had the past few games!
But let’s go back to Justin Fields for a second. Bill Belichick is proving he cannot beat quarterbacks that are mobile and can move outside of the pocket. It happened with Lamar Jackson, in Week 3 against the Ravens. It happened again last night against the Bears.
The Patriots couldn’t stop the mobile quarterback and it continues to be a problem. These linebackers aren’t fast enough to make big, impactful plays. It’s still concerning to say the least.
The New England Patriots handled their QB situation poorly
The Patriots have handled this “QB situation” extremely poorly. And by the Patriots, I mean Bill Belichick!
This game just felt weird from the quarterback perspective.
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We had Mac Jones who was slated to come back and reclaim his starting job. He played three drives and went 3 for 6 in the air, with an interception. After his third drive, here came Bailey Zappe.
Zappe looked a little bit better, as he helped the Pats score two touchdowns in the second quarter. This helped get the Patriots back on top 14-10. After that, the offense stalled.
Zappe finished the game 14 for 22 with 185 passing yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He also had the crowd behind him, chanting for Zappe to enter when Mac began to struggle.
The issue with Bill Belichick is his unwillingness to put this thing to bed. Name a starter for the rest of the season, or at least for the immediate future. Don’t leave both guys in limbo anymore!
You need to figure out what direction you want to go in, going forward. Let Mac start and finish that game last night, and allow him to run what was successful for him in 2021.
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You can see the play-calling is VASTLY different between Jones and Zappe.
Now with the Jets on deck, let Mac start and let him actually play more than three drives. If he struggles again and you go to Zappe, then that’s fine!
But as far as the Bears are concerned, that’s a horrible loss. Plain and simple. That was a “gimme” win and you end up getting blown out. Better do some soul-searching! Otherwise, it’ll be another long game for the New England Patriots, against a team that they can realistically beat.