It sounds like the Bears could face Patriots quarterback Mac Jones on Monday Night Football.
According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, New England expects Jones to be available for Monday night’s game against Chicago. Although, per Reiss, Jones still has a final hurdle to clear health-wise in practice.
Jones suffered a high ankle sprain back in Week 3, which has held him out of the last three games. Fourth-round rookie Bailey Zappe has started the last two games (and played most of the Week 4 loss), where he’s gotten off to a hot start that have many experiencing “Zappe Fever.”
In three games, Zappe has gone 51-of-70 for 596 yards with four touchdowns and one interception. By contrast, Jones went 64-of-97 for 786 yards with two touchdowns and five interceptions in the first three games.
But Jones, who was drafted 15th overall, remains the team’s hopeful franchise quarterback. Right?
Just because Jones is available doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll start against the Bears, and Zappe’s performance over the last few weeks is certainly a factor.
News story: QB Mac Jones expects to be available Monday night vs. the Bears, per sources, with a final hurdle to be cleared this week in practice. https://t.co/zwdDLgumzM
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) October 20, 2022
Patriots coach Bill Belichick was asked about Jones’ health status and the quarterback situation, but he continued to deflect those questions.
“Hypotheticals and all that, I’m going to stay away from those,” Belichick said Wednesday, via ESPN. “We’ll see what we are actually dealing with here as we go forward.”
It’s worth noting that he didn’t come out and say that Jones would be the starter once he returned, although that’s certainly the assumption.
Whether that’s simply to keep a tactical advantage, or if they don’t want to rush Jones back, or because they want to ride the hot hand with Zappe remains to be seen.
But if Jones is full-go, the expectation is he’ll be making his return to the starting lineup on Monday night, where he’ll go against another first-round quarterback from the 2021 NFL draft in Chicago’s Justin Fields.
