New England Patriots: Three Initial Thoughts From Win Over Chicago Bears

Here are my initial thoughts from the New England Patriots’ 51-23 win over the Bears:

1. Offense Clicking

After struggling out of the gate, Tom Brady’s offense looks like Tom Brady’s offense. They were unstoppable today, scoring on all but one of their 10 drives, while totaling 487 total yards. Brady himself did whatever he wanted against Chicago, completing over 85% of his passes, and Rob Gronkowski destroyed the Bears’ secondary.

Chicago had no answer for Gronk all day, and surprisingly, they didn’t have an answer for Brandon LaFell either. LaFell has been a pleasant surprise for this Pats offense, as he has become that outside threat that they have so desperately needed over the past couple of years. When LaFell is winning his matchup on the outside, and Gronk is being Gronk between the hashes, this passing attack is lethal.

Oh, and New England still has that guy named Edelman, who only caught one ball today. It’s nice to see the Patriots do well on offense without Edelman handling the workload, because come January, teams will look to take Edelman out of the game. But Brady showed he has plenty of options to choose from in this offense.

2. Offensive Line Continues To Improve

Remember when the Patriots had the worst offensive line in the history of the universe?

Well, they have bounced back in a big way over the last four weeks, and that continued today. Brady had all day to throw, as he didn’t even come close to getting sacked. Chicago has a horrible secondary, but they came into this game ranked eight in the league in sacks. However New England’s offensive line clearly won the battle up front, which played a big part in the Pats getting this win.

I have been saying this since the season began: When Tom Brady has time to throw the ball, he has plenty of weapons to use to attack opposing defenses. And now, we have gotten to see what the “washed up” Brady has been able to do the last four weeks with time to throw the ball.

3. Aggressive, Physical Defense

The Patriots currently have the best secondary in the NFL.

Is it safe to say that? I think so. I am not saying Seattle’s group is a bunch of chumps, because they aren’t. But with Brandon Browner healthy, and Darrelle Revis completely back, I don’t see how you can say New England doesn’t have the best defensive backfield in the league. Jay Cutler couldn’t get anything going against this pass defense, and that bodes well for New England’s upcoming five-game stretch. The Pats played physical, aggressive man coverage for a good portion of this game, which is exactly what I have been wanting them to do for the past five years.

This pass defense is legit.

The front seven also played well, holding up decently in the running game (much better than last week), and actually getting some pressure on Cutler with Chandler Jones absent. Akeem Ayers showed up as a pass rush multiple times, as did Dont’a Hightower on the blitz. Being without Jones will hurt, but if Ayers can keep this type of play up, the Pats will be okay.

Dominique Easley also played very well on the edge, as he consistently set the edge against an explosive Matt Forte. Look for him the Pats to rotate between him, Zach Moore, and Ayers on the edge going forward, as they all have unique skill-sets.