For much of the season so far, the Patriots' defense has kept the team in games and kept them from being blown out, except in the matchup with the Jaguars. With so many injuries across the offense, it seemed like that would be the case again on Thursday night, only for their age-old struggles to resurface.
Throughout the 2025 season, the defense's biggest gripe was its missed-tackle rate, and that issue resurfaced against the Bears in primetime.
At halftime, Next Gen Stats tracked 10 missed tackles, topping their previous season-high of 8 from last week. By the end of the game, it rose to 16, setting a new season-high in a game that could easily have been won.
A pretty clean game from Drake Maye, aside from his frustrating interception, meant the defense just needed to hold their end of the bargain, and they failed. Mike Vrabel was clearly frustrated by it, too, and it will inevitably be a point of emphasis during their mini bye before they face the Dolphins in Week 8.
Mike Vrabel was quick to point out the biggest flaw of the Patriots' efforts in Week 7
Immediately after the loss, Vrabel didn't hesitate to share his frustration with the defense, particularly their bad tackling.
The group needs to hear this message, and although they'd rather forget how poorly they played, they'll need to watch the tape and learn from their mistakes before a few winnable games. Or they'll likely repeat those problems and lose more games.
Mike Vrabel rips his defense after a tough loss:
— Patriots on CLNS (@PatriotsCLNS) October 23, 2026
"The tackling wasn't good enough. Not against this team...We need to turn the ball over and we need to tackle better, those are fundamental skills."
-@CLNSMedia pic.twitter.com/TFpkuI6Csn
Although it's never good to rely on one side of the football to keep the team in a game or win, it requires a complete effort from everyone involved, and that wasn't apparent from the defense this week.
The group is filled with seasoned veterans who shouldn't be making those kinds of mistakes, especially those who were on the roster last year and contributed to that problem then, too.
Over the next week and a half, they need to make this their focus in whatever way possible, and we'll need to see massive improvement moving forward. They can't lose a game because they missed open tackles, especially when they're within range to win, like they were on Thursday night.
Add us as a preferred source on Google