New England Patriots vs. Chicago Bears Final Score: Pats Crush Bears 51-23

I’m pretty sure Tom Brady is still throwing touchdowns, and Rob Gronkowski is still spiking footballs.

The New England Patriots absolutely obliterated the Chicago Bears today, going up 38 points at one point in the third quarter. The offense was clicking on all cylinders, as Tom Brady was surgical in his destruction of the Bears’ defense. Brady completed 30 of his 35 pass attempts for 354 yards and five touchdowns. Rob Gronkowski and Brandon LaFell did the majority of the damage for New England, combining for 20 catches, 273 yards, and four touchdowns.

Gronk was unstoppable over the middle, beating linebackers and safeties for big yardage all game long. It has also been nice to see the emergence of LaFell, who has become a very good outside threat for this offense. The Pats had their best offensive outing of the year and Julian Edelman only caught one ball. I think that speaks volumes to the evolution of this group.

New England also ran the ball quite well, finishing with 122 yards on 32 carries. Jonas Gray led the way, gaining 86 yards on a mere 17 attempts. The offensive line deserves  a ton of praise for this performance, as Tom Brady was hardly touched all game long, and there were big holes in the running attack early in the contest. After struggling mightily to begin the year, the big boys up front have responded over the last four games.

The Pats were excellent defensively as well, as the majority of Chicago’s yards came in garbage time when the effort obviously wasn’t at 100%. But throughout the first half, and into the third quarter Jay Cutler couldn’t do anything against Darrelle Revis and company, squeezing out a mere 231 passing yards for the entire game (including garbage time). The lack of pass rush was a problem, but the combination of Brandon Browner and Revis locking up wideouts in the outside was more than enough to dominate.

The Patriots’ front seven played better than I expected, sacking Cutler three times, and limiting Matt Forte. Akeem Ayers, who just joined the team this past week looked very good, getting in on a Cutler sack, and coming up with a few other pressures. I think this addition will pay big dividends for the Pats in the coming weeks.

This game was definitely the best we have seen the Patriots here in 2014, and it looks like they are rounding into form at the right time with Peyton Manning ahead.

On to Denver.