The Chicago Bears did what few teams with young quarterbacks do in Foxborough, MA and that’s defeat the New England Patriots under Bill Belichick. The Bears were massive underdogs on Monday Night Football, but wound up blowing the doors off the Patriots in all phases of the game with a convincing 33-14 victory.
With a mini bye week following their disappointing loss to the Washington Commanders, the Bears used the extra rest to make improvements to their team, most notably on offense. Quarterback Justin Fields led an unstoppable rushing attack and made sure the Patriots barely touched the ball. When they did, however, the Bears defense made them pay with four turnovers on the day.
Nothing was stopping the Bears during this game and it resulted in an improbable, yet satisfying win with a chance to build on this success. Here are our takeaways from this primetime victory.
1. This was the most satisfying victory in nearly three years
It’s been a long time since a win felt this good. In fact, you could argue that it hasn’t happened in nearly three years. The last time the Bears laid a beatdown of this magnitude on a team that was at least average was back in 2019 against the Dallas Cowboys. The Bears were still holding onto hope for a playoff spot, while they essentially bounced the Cowboys from any shot at the postseason.
Of course, the season didn’t end up in a playoff berth, but it goes to show how few and far between victories like this have been for the Bears. Monday night’s performance should be celebrated, even if it doesn’t result in a sustained run right away. It’s the reason why we love sports so much.
2. Justin Fields is unstoppable at times
Sometimes we have a tendency to get too casual with certain adjectives or other descriptors when discussing pro athletes. It’s only natural given the displays we see from them week in and week out. But with that being said, Justin Fields is truly unstoppable at times. His ability to escape pressure is becoming routine for Bears fans as he’s making jaw-dropping plays on the regular. But now a national audience has seen it two weeks in a row and he’s turning heads.
Fields was sensational on the ground, carrying the ball 14 times for 82 yards and a touchdown. Even when things seemed dire, he would easily pick up first downs to keep drives moving, unable to be stopped. He has special athletic traits that are slowly, but surely, getting harnessed. It’s amazing to see and the Bears are inching closer towards unlocking his potential. It’s only a matter of time before he becomes even more lethal in different areas of the game.
3. Fields still has passing issues to clean up
Fields was spectacular on Monday, but when taking off the blue and orange glasses, there are some issues to fix. At times, his passes have been downright brutal, with quick outs completely off target and some of his deep passes way over the receiver’s head. To borrow a basketball term, it’s the layups he’s simply not making and that part of his game needs to be addressed.
There are signs he’s progressing, however. His rollout throws have been on point and he’s seemingly trusting his receivers more and more with each passing week. Fields spread the ball around effectively, finding Cole Kmet up the sideline for a big play and targeting Equanimeous St. Brown more often that didn’t involve jet sweeps. He just needs to get a bit more consistent in some of those areas to help take him to the next level in his development.
4. Jaquan Brisker and Kyler Gordon are worth the draft picks
Anytime a receiver from the 2022 NFL Draft that was available for the Bears makes a play, Bears fans flock to social media to lambast general manager Ryan Poles for his decision to pick two defensive backs in the second round. Whether it’s George Pickens making a touchdown grab or Alec Pierce converting on a long third down, fans get mad at the Bears for not prioritizing the receiver. But make no mistake, the duo of Kyler Gordon and Jaquan Brisker has helped turn the secondary into a strength.
Remember where we were last year? Every single cornerback was getting torched with big plays and the safeties provided no help whatsoever. That isn’t happening in 2022 and Gordon and Brisker are big reasons why. And in a way, they do help Fields’ development by limiting the amount of time opposing offense are on the field and/or when they take the ball away to give the Bears a short field. They did just that too as both players recorded their first career interceptions.
Poles could have spent a bit differently this offseason to upgrade the receiver position and one can make an argument that Velus Jones Jr., the only receiver the Bears picked in the draft, was a miss. But you can’t deny the impact Gordon and Brisker are making. They weren’t draft mistakes because they don’t play offense. They’re potentially draft gems that have enhanced the defense, as well as the offense to an extent.
5. Sam Mustipher didn't play as badly as people think
The Bears finally made the right decision to bench center Sam Mustipher in favor of Lucas Patrick and it lasted all of one quarter. Patrick injured his foot against the Patriots and Mustipher was brought back into the game with the Bears leading 3-0. Couple that with the fact the Patriots were on a run with quarterback Bailey Zappe to take a 14-10 lead and all hope seemed lost. But despite some funny memes out on the internet, Mustipher actually played fairly well coming off the bench.
There’s a popular video showing Fields and the Bears offense rolling out to the right, with Mustipher somewhat caught in no-mans land with no one to block. The person providing commetary simply yells “what are you doing?!” over and over again as Mustipher is looking around. But in reality, his man dropped back as a spy and Mustipher didn’t want to block someone in the back or become an ineligible player downfield.
Mustipher was the highest-graded pass blocker on Monday night and finished with a top-five grade from Pro Football Focus. These grades only tell part of the story, but there was visible improvement from Mustipher, even with the memes going around. Losing Patrick will still sting and there isn’t a lot of confidence that Mustipher can keep this up. But we saw progress and he didn’t play nearly as bad as some might think.
6. The Bears are fortunate to have Cairo Santos
It’s been literal years since we’ve had to harshly judge the kicker position. It feels like yesterday Cody Parkey was getting lambasted and fans were holding their breath with Eddy Pineiro. But for the last two years, Cairo Santos has been as steady as they come, once again keeping the Bears in the lead with four field goals.
It’s easy to take him for granted. After all, we tend to look on the negative when it comes to the Bears. But Santos has been clutch all year long and even one miss on Monday could have swung the tide, giving the Patriots life. Santos hasn’t missed a field goal attempt this year yet and only missed a pair of extra points in a literal monsoon back in Week 1. Because the Bears aren’t necessarily a playoff contender, it’s easy to overlook his accomplishments. But he deserves his flowers and the Bears are fortunate to have him.
7. Justin Jones is finally earning his keep
It took a while for defensive tackle Justin Jones to find his footing with the Bears, but he’s turned a corner over the last few weeks and has been playing very well on the defensive line. Jones’ stats may not pop off the screen when you see them as he’s only three total tackles in as many games. But he’s helped shore up the run defense in a big way after the Bears struggled mightily in that area earlier in the season.
Jones also is impacting the pass game, deflecting passes in each of the last three games. Jones also recovered a fumble late in the first half, resulting in three more points right before halftime. He’s become a leader on the defensive line and seems to have hit his stride in Eberflus’ system, even if he wasn’t the first choice. Jones was brought in this offseason after the Bears failed to sign free agent defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi due to a failed physical. They turned to Jones instead and it’s starting to pay off in a big way.
