Quick Game Comments: Patriots at Bears 11/10/24

Defense

1. Everyone wants to run. But you had to figure that the Patriots really, really wanted to run given what the Bears put on tape last week. They certainly did do that, running for 4.5 yards per carry before they had to run the clock out. They ran the ball 35 times with only 25 passes.
2. The Patriots were throwing the ball right at Tyrique Stevenson whenever they could. Up until this game, he stood up to that kind of pressure pretty well. But today he had a poor game.
3. The Bears defensive line had a very difficult time penetrating against the Patriot line all game. That makes it very difficult to stop the run.

Offense

1. The Patriots were playing man coverage just like the Cardinals did last week. It looked to me like the receivers were having a tough time getting open. The Bears occasionally resorted to little tricks to bump guys open off the line, but other than that, it looked like a struggle.
2. The Bears attack was reasonably balanced until late in the game, and they didn’t do a terrible job statistically rushing for 3.7 yards per carry. But there are lapses. For instance, halfway through the third quarter, the Bears came out and called seven passes in a row. You cannot win ball games doing that.
3. I think teams have that little swing pass to DJ Moore in motion to the right figured out. The Patriots were on it so fast that they almost intercepted one near the beginning of the first quarter on a third down. I know that they’re desperate to get the ball to Moore in situations like that, but it’s time to put that one away.
4. Yes, there were 9 sacks, and yes, the offensive line is a shambles. But there’s more to the dysfunction in this offense than that. I cannot figure out how the Bears could average 1.8 yards per pass and still struggle so badly to get the ball out. I look at what the Patriots do on second or third and long, and Maye gets the ball out on a short slant and lets his wide receiver run. But Caleb Williams in the same situation drops back and has to take a sack. I don’t see that quick slant anywhere in the Bears game plan on 3rd and long when you know that the blitz may well be coming. I can’t figure that out. Williams just isn’t being given answers.

Miscellaneous

1. Daryl Johnston does a pretty good job on these broadcasts, giving us analysis on aspects of the game that fans are otherwise forced to wonder about. For instance, he made it clear that receivers weren’t getting open for Williams, something I think we all suspected but which you can’t see on TV.
2. Drake Maye came into the game having statistically thrown a high number of interceptable balls in previous games. The thought was that the Bears would be able to take advantage of that in a way that other teams apparently hadn’t. Maye threw only 1 interception, an awful throw right to TJ Edwards near the end of the first quarter.
3. By far the most important aspect of this season is the development of Caleb Williams, and right now he looks very uncomfortable out there in a way that he wasn’t the first 5 games of this season. Even when the Bears weren’t winning, he was throwing well and with confidence. But now his confidence is very evidently down, and his accuracy is way off, even when he’s not under any pressure. The Bears have got to find a way to get him mentally right. Do they have coaches who can do that? I have my doubts and have had my doubts from the day Shane Waldron, a former tight end with limited quarterback coaching experience, was hired. We could be looking at a very long second half of the season, and it’s teetering on the edge of disaster for the franchise.