Patriots vs. Bears: 4 Takeaways As Caleb Williams Outduels Drake Maye

The days of Cardiac Caleb might be over – at least for the time being.

Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams has a new (and equally difficult) job. He has to figure out how to protect his leads, an especially difficult task when his defense is as unreliable as it was on Thursday night in a 30-24 win over the New England Patriots at Soldier Field.

Williams was terrific — except for an end-of-game sack (that we’ll get to). Williams was 22-of-33 for 308 yards with two touchdowns and against a well-respected Patriots defense that features one of the NFL’s best cornerbacks in Christian Gonzalez.

There’s no question that Williams is an elite quarterback. But he keeps proving he and head coach Ben Johnson can win games in different ways. And man – the Bears look dangerous. No worries about regression in Chicago.

Here are my takeaways:

It was abundantly clear that Johnson had no interest in giving Drake Maye the ball in a one-score game. 

The Bears coach did everything he could to drain the clock and score some points on Chicago’s final scoring drive, which was essentially their final drive, if you discount victory formation. On third and long, they called plays that allowed Williams to target downfield passes — that put the ball in harm’s way. Look no further than his incredible (but admittedly dangerous) throw from Williams on third-and-9 to receiver Rome Odunze with five minutes left in the game.

But, not coincidentally, the aggressiveness nearly cost them points.

On third-and-5 with 1:46 left, the Bears could have very sensibly handed off the ball, forced the Patriots to take a timeout and then kicked the field goal. But Chicago wanted a first down, and so Johnson called a dropback out of shotgun – and the QB took a sack, knocking the offense out of field goal range.

So Johnson doubled down, attempting a field goal that exceeded Bears kicker Cairos Santos’ career-long by five yards. And it paid off, with Santos making it.

Those last two decisions – to throw on third down and to kick out of the kicker’s established range – were gutsy. They were the types of decisions that would, if they’d gone awry, have led to a lot of questions. But Johnson bet on his guys. And eventually, they showed up for their coach.

Santos’ kick pushed the lead to nine points with 90 seconds left, effectively ending the game.

Drake Maye may still be struggling to connect with A.J. Brown, but the young QB generated some incredible splash plays with his tight ends on Thursday.

The touchdown to rookie tight end Eli Raridon was a simple testament to Maye’s seemingly boundless talent. On first-and-15 in the third quarter, the Bears brought six rushers – and they got hands on Maye quickly. But he was quicker to the draw, getting the ball downfield to Raridon, who was streaking down the seam, creating an impressive amount of separation against veteran linebacker Devin Bush.

I like the play on its own merits. But I also like that Maye went back to Raridon for a score when – earlier in the game – Maye threw an interception to the young tight end on a seam route. New England has kept Raridon quiet for a while now, but he was outstanding in training camp. And I suspect he’s going to earn more targets in the coming weeks.

But there’s a reason he’s been a well-kept secret. It’s veteran tight end Hunter Henry, who is one of Maye’s favorite and most trustworthy targets. 

We saw Henry show up on another one of Maye’s biggest highlight-reel plays. Maye rolled right and avoided a sack on third down – before seeing Henry, slipping out of pass protection (which was almost definitely improvised) at exactly the right moment for the two of them to link up for a first down.

They had no business converting that play. But Maye found a way, thanks to his wily veteran.

It’s still concerning that Brown remains a non-factor in this offense. But it feels like a matter of time for him to get up to speed. So in the meantime, it’s a great sign they’re getting contributions from the tight ends — even in a loss.

This summer, Chicago was hyping Burden at a level that you rarely see from a team. Burden was still unproven this offseason, and so the Bears’ decision to talk him up felt risky. What if he fell short of expectations?

Well, he sort of did. Entering Week 7, Burden had posted good numbers – but nothing special, with just one receiving touchdown and zero 100-yard games going into Thursday night. His best performance was actually last week against the Falcons when he had a season-high eight catches for a season-high 95 yards. But there was nothing pedestrian about what he did to the Patriots defense.

He finished the game with four receptions for 130 yards and a touchdown, along with one carry for seven yards.

Bears wide receiver Luther Burden III celebrates his 24-yard touchdown against the Patriots. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

And what was most remarkable was the way he looked so dang open on the big plays, creating incredible separation in some cases and exploiting seemingly busted coverages in others. Just an impressive performance from the youngster, even if his extensive celebration got him in trouble with his QB in the first half.

McDaniels called something sneaky against the Bears at the end of the first half. It looked like Chicago thought the Patriots were planning to throw a Hail Mary, so the Bears blitzed – five rushers – and dropped deep into coverage. So New England instead called a screen pass to Stevenson.

Across the field, running evenly with Stevenson, receiver A.J. Brown was ready for the cross-field lateral. And Brown was open. So, as Stevenson crossed the 30-yard line and pulled up the ball, it looked like he might whip it over to Brown. But no, Stevenson tucked the ball and weaved past defenders basically untouched into the end zone.

For six remarkable and improbable points.

The RB had a 4.3% chance of scoring when the ball hit his hands, per Next Gen Stats. Those numbers changed rapidly. They absolutely stole points going into the second half.

4 ½. What’s Next?

New England gets to bounce back with a Week 8 matchup against the Dolphins in Miami. The Patriots get a mini bye out of the TNF game. New England might be happy to have it. The Pats need to make sure they don’t fall prey to a trap game against Miami. 

I know, I know, I know. The Dolphins are terrible. But in Miami? The weather will be hot compared to New England. And the divisional game will make it more competitive than you’d think. The Patriots better be careful.

It’s no rest for the weary for the Bears. They go from one Super Bowl team to another. In Week 8, the Bears will travel to Seattle to take on the defending-champion Seahawks. 

The good news is that Seattle looks slightly more vulnerable this year. Offensively, the Seahawks miss running back Kenneth Walker, which has made life harder for Sam Darnold, who is turning over the ball at a dangerous clip. 

Seattle’s defense, though, is still stingy, with the fewest yards allowed per game in the NFL. It’ll be yet another tough test for Johnson and Williams.