Bears Shock the Patriots 33-14
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BEARS AND PATRIOTS VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: Justin Fields’ rushing TD and passing TD help end three-game losing streak.
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If this is what mini-bye evaluations of players does, then Bears coach Matt Eberflus needs to start assessing his players again this week right away on Tuesday morning.
The Bears came in off their long weekend away from football Monday night and player evaluations, teetered briefly after taking an initial lead, but ended a three-game losing streak by exploding behind Justin Fields past the New England Patriots 33-14.
“Like I said to the guys, this is one victory, ” coach Matt Eberflus said. “This is one victory. We improved in our fundamentals but we need to still improve.”
It was a shocking turn of events considering the Bears came in 8 1/2-point underdogs, then seemed to lose all momentum after leading initially 10-0.
With quarterback Bailey Zappe coming on after Mac Jones threw a one-handed, leaping interception to Jaquan Brisker, the Patriots rallied for a 14-10 lead. But then Fields transformed into the all-around force the Bears have envisioned since draft day 2021.
Fields completed 13 of 21 for 179 yards and a TD, and ran for 82 yards on 14 carries for a TD.
“Pretty much our motto this week was finish everything,” Fields said.
They finished the Patriots by using Fields as an extra running back much of the night on sweeps or on quarterback draws, and went on to the most points they’ve ever scored with Fields at QB.
“I think that creates an issue sometimes for the defense, depending on what defense they’re in,” Eberflus said. “Certainly when you have a quarterback that has the designed runs with the run-pass off of it and also doing some things, just having the ability to scramble and make first downs, I think it’s a big piece and it’s hard to defend those guys.”
Fields personally accounted for 10 of the Bears’ 11 third-down conversions with passes or runs and kept the ball out of New England’s hands all night—the Bears owned a 37:14 to 22:46 possession advantage.
“It opens it up a little bit more, just doing a lot of different things on offense, ” Fields said.
The Bears ran for 243 yards, both David Montgomery and Khalil Hebert had 62 yards and Herbert a rushing TD, as the Bears kept Patriots coach Bill Belichick from moving past legendary Bears coach/owner George Halas for all-time victories.
When it came together for the Bears, it wasn’t just Fields and the offense.
Kyler Gordon, Roquan Smith and Brisker each had interceptions and Justin Jones picked up a botched handoff just before halftime that led to a 20-14 halftime lead on a 23-yard Cairo Santos field goal, one of four he had without a miss.
It didn’t matter who New England had at quarterback, although Zappe had some initial success when he replaced ineffective Jones following a leaping first-quarter interception by Brisker.
Zappe threw a 30-yard TD pass to Jakobi Meyers and Rhamondre Stevenson scored on a 4-yard run after the Bears initally went up 10-0 on a 42-yard Santos field goal and 3-yard Fields run.
However, the Bears didn’t crawl into a fetal position after losing the lead with the stadium roaring after Zappe’s quick success.
Fields threw sidearm to avoid an onrushing arm and hit Herbert on quick screen while being sandwiched late by two pass rushers. The second-year Bears back raced straight upfield 25 yards for the go-ahead TD 1:54 before halftime.
Then, the fumble recovery by Jones and Santos’ 23-yard field goal were followed in the second half by field goals of 38 and 50 yards and a Montgomery clinching fourth-quarter TD run.
“It was a poor performance tonight,” Belichick said. “We were badly outcoached, outplayed. We just didn’t do anything at all in enough of the game to have a chance to win or deserve to win.
“The Bears did a good job, totally controlled the game in all three phases.”
The Bears entered the game without an injury but in his first action at center Lucas Patrick suffered a toe injury and left the game, leaving Sam Mustipher to return to center.
It was about the only negative thing to happen to the Bears on the night as they now are tied for second in the NFC North with Green Bay and prepare in a short week to face the Dallas Cowboys on the road.
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