Bear Digest

Bears and Patriots In-Game Blog: Patriots 19, Bears 3 FINAL

Live reporting and analysis in-game during the matchup at Soldier Field as Caleb Williams and the Bears try to climb above .500 against the Patriots.

Gene Chamberlain

Jake Martin sacks Drake Maye in the first half of Sunday's Bears game with New England.
Jake Martin sacks Drake Maye in the first half of Sunday's Bears game with New England. / Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images
In this story:

Fourth Quarter

  • The completion before the two-minute warning put the Bears at 144 yards of total offense. Congrats! Next up the 150 barrrier!
  • They finally called a roughing-the-passer penalty. After Williams had been beaten up repeatedly after throwing all day. I'd tell the ref I disrespectfully decline it out of spite. TWO-MINUTE WARNING!!!
  • There will be changes. There have to be after this. Whether it's Waldron giving up play calling or something. No one can be this bad against a terrible team at home coming off two bad losses. It's actually the kind of performance that should cause them to fire the head coach.
  • Patriots have fourth-and-2 at the 15 and let the clock run down to 2:21 before calling timeout and sending in the field goal team. Slye with a 33-yard field goal. Patriots 19, Bears 3
  • This is the day the Ryan Poles rebuild went totally off the rails.
  • It's too bad the Bears aren't doing an in-season Hard Knocks
  • The best news of the day. Bears just used their final timeout. Can't stop the clock anymore as Hunter Henry catches a first-down pass at the Bears 23.
  • Tyrique makes a great tackle in the open field on Stevenson then stands over him taunting him and gets lucky no penalty is called. What a guy.
  • Seven sacks for 39 yards in losses. At this point, Williams should ask not to go in.
  • With 4:54 left, the end appears to be here for the Bears. Next week they play the Packers, they play six divisional games, the 49ers and Seahawks to close things out. Can you say 4-13?
  • The march to nowhere continues. It's third-and-5 at the 49 of the Patriots after Williams is thrown to the ground in front of the refs. Fan Chants. "Fi-re Flus" as fourth down pass falls incomplete.
  • First positive play in ages. A short fourth-and-2 pass for 3 to Rome Odunze. And they follow it up by false start on Matt Pryor. Wow.
  • Now Williams is just getting knocked down before he can even set up to throw.
  • The aftermath of this one is going to be far more interesting than the game.
  • Elijah Hicks knocks it away, nearly had the pick in the end zone. Probably should have. Slye kicks a 25-yard field goal with 7:32 left. Patriots 16, Bears 3
  • Hooper burns them for 12 on a catch for first down at the 12. A truly heartless team now. If they fired the entire staff and started from scratch next week, they couldn't look this bad again
  • A penalty for holding on Boutte on a WR screen trying to block Jaylon Jonson pushes it back. 58,912 in attendance. Subtract about 56,000 if this kind of play continues next week against Green Bay.
  • Antonio Gibson in and pounds for 7 and a first down. They're at the 25 and easily in field goal range. Now 11 minutes.
  • Big scramble for 19 by Maye. Bears defense is starting to realize they're going to lose again.
  • Clock running, thankfully, as Pats run around left end for no gain.
  • Blitzed the A-gap and off the edge and Williams barely got to look up before he wa hit. Bears punt from the 3. Good punt by Taylor and Pats start at their 46.
  • Patriots CB Martellas Dial Jr. has a possible concussion. Bears are stumbling around again facing third-and-4. And a false start on third-and-4 takes the cake. Third-and-9. I would bet the mortgage against a first down here.

Third Quarter

  • A 6-yard run and the quarter ends. Yawn.
  • Bears start at their own 9 after another Patriots punt with five seconds left in the third quarter. Yawn.
  • Patriots are so bad they lined up in punt formation with too many men in backfield, so bears will get another chance, but it doesn't help much as Bryce Baringer punted it 75 yards to the end zone.
  • Picking on Tyrique again with a 7-yard pass to Boutte to set up third-and-1. But Stevenson wastes a bunch of time dancing around and doesn't get the first down so Bears will get it back again.
  • The Patriots know Williams is having trouble against blitzes in passing situations, so they blitz. And the Bears are down three starters on the offensive line. That's not a good equation for a comeback win. They'd need something like their season-opening win over Tennessee, a bolt of lightning.
  • Third down sack. No one to blame but the line on that one, or what's left of their line. Jonathan Owens trying to get everyone jacked up after the punt but good luck with that. Pats at their own 21.
  • End around to DJ gets only 2. Blocking was there to cut it in but he ran right at the tackler. Then an incompletion to Moore as Williams sidestepped a sack and threw but it was deflected away by Patriots in zone coverage.
  • Kmet has a been found. DJ Moore has been found. Now they need to get moving. There are 21 minutes and 25 seconds remaining.
  • Kmet wide open on the bootleg and Williams leads him too far at the boundary. Another misfire. Then he finds Kmet stumbling for a 7-yarder. On third-and-3 Pats blitz and Williams finds Kmet slanting for the first down at the 33. A gain of 6. That didn't look so hard.
  • It's been five quarters, plus 7:10 since the Bears offense drove for a TD.
  • Does anyone have a debrillator?
  • A 4-yard pass to beat Chris Williams QB hit and it's third-and-8. Tremaine Edmunds knocks down a throw at the line right back at Maye and the Pats punt into the end zone.
  • Another break with a second-down false start and it's second-and-12. Maybe they won't squander that break.
  • Bears get a break with an inelgible man downfield penalty on a bootleg completion, second-and-11 at the Pats' 24. They still get the first down with a slant to Boutte for 13, beating Stevenson.
  • Stevenson barrels ahead 11 yards on first down, then another 4. Bears run defense starting to leak again.
  • DT Jaquelin Roy out of game with neck injury return. Jenkins is out for the remainder of the game due to his ankle injury. Also, S Tarvarius Moore suffered a concussion on special teams and is out for the Bears, who already are down Jaquan Brisker at the position.
  • It started promising but Williams scrambles forward against a blitz and gets a couple on third down and the Bears punt to the 14. Finding dJ Moore downfield for a big gain was a great start and the Swift run up the middle was fine, but after that zippo. They should consider Bagent.
  • First play a big pass to DJ Moore at the 48. What do you know? 18 yards. Then Swift for 5 up the middle and the blocking fails on second down play-action pass for a sack. He didn't have much chance. Matt Pryor gets up limping and stays in the game.
  • The corpse known as the Bears offense starts from its 30 after a touchback.
  • The Bears actually have looked worse in the first half than they looked in the first half against Arizona. They're home and facing a 2-7 team, one tied for the worst record in the NFL.
  • Tyson Bagent still wearing a hat in halftime warmups so there is no QB change coming. Hopefully there was a heart transplant at halftime.

Second Quarter

  • We're long past the point of hangovers from that Hail Mary pass. The bitter truth must be the Bears are this bad. If that's the case, heads need to roll.
  • Hate to suggest it at this point but just for a spark of life, bench Caleb and go to Tyson?
  • This season is over if they play another half like this one. Patriots didn't play well either, but realized they were facing a bunch of zombies on the Bears offensive side.
  • A 23-yard completion and the Pats get the ball downed with one second left, then add on 5 yards because Montez Sweat was offsides, late running back to get onside. Slye kicks a 37-yard field goal. Fans let the Bears have it with a loud chorus of booing. A five-play, 41-yard drive. Patriots 13, Bears 3
  • A run and final timeout taken at the Bears 47 with 16 seconds left.
  • After the Patriots TD, the Bears go nowhere and punted and New England has it at the 35. With 21 seconds left after a 9-yard pass the Patriots call their second timeout. This is stacking up as a end-of-half Bears disaster again.
  • Maye 7 of 12 for 99 yards and a TD. Williams 6 of 10 for 43 yards.
  • Play-action to Ja'Lynn Polk for 2 yards and the TD, wide open on the left flank as Bears bit on the fake. A 10-play, 70-yard drive in 5:31. Patriots offense has found something in the passing game: Attack Tyrique. Patriots 10, Bears 3
  • Stevenson stacked up at the 2 but he got the first down. First-and-goal at the 2. Bears red zone defense needs a real goal line stand now.
  • Jenkins did not re-injure the knee. He has an ankle injury and is questionable to return.
  • Two Patriots runs stacked up at the 4 after a big third-down catch for 17 yards by Douglas and a 24-yarder to Austin Hooper aided a drive, and Patriots have third-and-goal. TWO-MINUTE WARNING!!!
  • Williams scrambles right and throws it away. He should have run left because there was one defender between him and the goal line. Incompletion and the Bears settle for a 33-yard Cairo Santos field goal to end a 12-play, 50-yard drive in 4:31. Bears 3, Patriots 3
  • Play clock nearly runs out and they hurry up for a timeout, their second, with 7:29 left in the half on third-and-10.
  • Well the positive here is at least Kramer can't carry the ball if he's at left guard. But they ran the ball behind him twice in a row for no yards.
  • Tremendous right side blocking by Marcedes Lewis, Matt Pryor and a first down up the middle, then Swift jukes his way out wide right and gets the first down at the 15.
  • A beautiful 11-yard pass to Allen set up third-and-4 but Williams threw too far out front of Moore. On fourth-and-4 Williams scrambles and barely got the first down. But Teven Jenkins is injured. And Nate Davis has a back boo boo so he can't play.
  • Refs blew a call with no offsides penalty on a Patriots blitz that was obviously offsides. Right in full view of eveyrone. No flag. And Williams overthrew deep but it appeared he thought that he had a free down. A timeout burned after the failure. Someone should have been in the officials' faces after that. No excuse for that.
  • And finally there it is, attacking the flanks with a short pass for a first down to Odunze on bootleg, then one to Allen for another first down. The good old false start. Courtesy of Matt Pryor, and Bears are first-and-15 at the 47 of New England.
  • There's not enough of the short passing that has hurt the Patriots all year.
  • Bears need to run wide, either at tackle or around end, and take it all the way out there instead of cutting it back the way Swift has been doing it.
  • Another great play by Edwards as Maye scrambled, he tackled him for a 2-yard gain at the ankles. Maye easily would have run for a first down but perfect execution on the tackle. An incompletion on third-and-7 to Douglas and the Bears get it back with a punt at their own 35.
  • Stretch play by Stevenson gains 1. A stupid call by New England. They get 6 or 7 yards up the middle every time.
  • Maybe they need to tell Shane Waldron to sit the second half out as a play caller. They haven't been getting negative plays in terms of penalties and the sacks were Williams' fault entirely. He held the ball twice forever. Wasted a takeaway by Edwards and the longest punt return of the season by DeAndre Carter.
  • Another terribly executed play. DJ Moore wide receiver motion screen loses 2 yards. But look at the bright side: It's a punt-and-pin opportunity. Fair catch by Marcus Jones at the 12 with 13:30 left in the half.
  • The Bears start the second quarter at midfield with second-and-8. Swift's 5-yard run up the middle makes it third-and-3.
  • A 2-yard pass to Allen and the first quarter is thankfully history.
  • T.J. Edwards to the rescue. Intercepts a bootleg pass by Maye thrown in wide open field with no one in his face. Terrible decision. Bears at their own 48.
  • Stevenson plows straight ahead for 8 and Bears line can't stop him. Then Demario Douglas gets in on it with a wide-receivers screen that sets up well for 17 yards. Perfectly executed.
  • Patriots start at thier 20 after the punt went in end zone. Don't worry Bears fans, the first quarter ends in 1:44. Then they're allowed to score. Still 10 points on the year in first quarters.
  • Again Williams does something stupid. He held the ball too long, then got sacked out of field goal range for the third time in three weeks. Deatrich Wise with the sack after Williams held the ball.
  • No-huddle approach working so far but they run wide left and it sets up well but for some reason Swift cuts it back in and loses 2 yards. He had the blocking to take it around left end.
  • Stretch play left gets 9 for Swift, then a dive for a first down. The wide run is how to attack New England. They give up over 6 yards a carry around both ends. Bears at the 34. Swift then with 5 around right end and might have gone all the way but Allen missed a block.
  • Williams hits Keenan Allen on second-and-8 for the first down. Well covered but threaded at the Patriots 48.
  • Another Bears special teams break. The kickoff was squibbed and came up way short of the landing zone. So they start at the 40.
  • Red zone defense came to the rescue again by forcing an incompletion on third down. Patriots got away with LT Vederian Lowe moving way early, but the refs tend to let tackles move early. Still, this was WAY early. Pats get the Joey Slye chip shot. The 30-yarder ends a 54-yard drive. The pass might have actually been completed for a TD to an ineligible receiver who went out of bounds first without re-establishing his position in front of Tyrique Stevenson. Patriots 3, Bears 0
  • Stevenson's run off right guard nets the needed yard and they're at the 17. Surpsingly they went to a naked backfield and Tyrique Stevenson nearly sacks Maye but he throws it left-handed as he's hit and gets the incompletion. Quick thinking by Pats QB.
  • Maye scramble comes up a yard short and New England lines up to go for it but was trying to draw the Bears offsides. They call timeout. They probably did it to see how the Bears would line up because why wouldn't they go for it at 2-7 on the year?
  • At the 33 on second down and the run defnese stacks up JaMycal Hasty, the change-up back but he gets the first down. Then Stevenson has forever to find a hole for 5 yards. The run defense looks terrible again. But then Gordon bails them out with a TFL and forces third-and-5.
  • A 28-yard pass over Kyler Gordon on first down. Gordon had good coverage but it was nicely placed.
  • Patriots from their 34 get a real break by the Bears' offensive ineptitude on their first drive and a good punt rush.
  • Richard Dent, the sack man and MVP of Super Bowl XX the sideline interview here. His memory isn't so good though. He tells everyone the Patriots only got three points on the great Bears defense in Super Bowl XX. It was 46-10.
  • A disappointing three-and-out after a big break on a punt return. A terrible start. Rome Odunze dropped the third-down pass but wasn't near the sticks yet anyway. Then Tory Taylor nearly has the punt blocked and stubs it only to the Patriots 34. A 13-yard punt.
  • A conservative start by Shane Waldron's offense with a run up the middle by D'Andre Swift and then a sack. But don't blame the offensive line on that one. Williams had max protect and held the ball forever.
  • Jake Martin sacks Maye at the line of scrimmage and then the wall forms on the right side for DeAndre Carter on the punt return for 38 yards to the Patriots 37. Best punt return of the year.
  • From the 30 after the touchback, Stevenson pounds for 6 off left guard and the Bears run defense already looks shaky. But an incompletion on second down after Maye panics when the ball on the snap hit the ground helps.
  • Bears win toss and defer. Defense wants to get at it after last week. And the sweet sound of the Bear-Raid siren at kickoff after a month away from Soldier Field.

Pregame

From watching pregame warmups, it would appear it will be Matt Pryor moving out to right tackle from right guard, Ryan Bates at right guard and Larry Borom at left tackle. It saves them using Jake Curhan at right tackle after he had such a poor game coming in for relief, according to Pro Football Focus grades last week. ... As they introduce players, no Spider-Man flip from Kyler Gordon, thankfully, as he is getting over a hamstring injury.

The Bears gave up six sacks last week trying to flip around their line with injuries during the game. Maybe a week of practicing with this group will make them more effective.

Good football weather, some gusty winds at times but otherwise no real problem today on the lakefront.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.