The Chicago Bears defeated the New England Patriots 33-14 on Monday Night Football. This was the first time since 2000 that Chicago has had a win over New England. Naturally, their upset over New England shot them up the Week 8 power rankings.
Justin Fields and the Bears’ offense did a total 180, looking like an entirely new team after their seven-point showing against the Washington Commanders in Week 6. It appeared that the embarrassing loss at home struck a nerve, and their 11-day break gave them the time to change things. Whatever they did worked, as they took their biggest win of the season and are now just one game below .500.
Let’s take a look at where the Bears stand in the power rankings going into Week 8.
Yahoo! Sports
Current Ranking: 22nd
Last Week’s Ranking: 28th
Author: Frank Schwab
Author’s Take:
Justin Fields and the Bears ran over the Patriots in primetime. Impressive job by Matt Eberflus and his staff
Our Take:
Matt Eberflus deserves a lot of credit. This is his breakout win. He out-coached the best coach of all time, Bill Belichick. His gameplan was perfect, and it didn’t matter which quarterback was out there for New England, Chicago was ready.
NFL.com
Current Ranking: 23rd
Last Week’s Ranking: 29th
Author: Dan Hanzus
Author’s Take:
Justin Fields took a huge step in his development on Monday Night Football. The second-year passer went into a hostile road environment and didn’t blink, delivering with his arm and legs in a blowout win over Bill Belichick and the Patriots. The Bears’ offense was relentless — rolling up 243 yards on the ground with 11 third-down conversions, their most in a game since 2015. The defense was equally up to the task, sending an ineffective Mac Jones to the bench after just three possessions before pitching a shutout in the second half. Bears back? Maybe.
Our Take:
Justin Fields looked great, with the entire offense taking a huge step forward. Along with the passing game, the Bears’ rushing game was relentless. It was nice to see a change of pace, with the ball being let loose in the air and running well on the ground. It was impressive, but they must do it more than once.
Bleacher Report
Current Ranking: 24th
Last Week’s Ranking: 30th
Author: NFL Staff
Author’s Take:
Will the real Chicago Bears please stand up?
In Week 6, the Bears couldn’t generate any sort of consistent offense in a home loss to a mediocre (at best) Washington Commanders team. With the Bears headed to Gillette Stadium Monday night to face one of the NFL’s better defenses, expectations were…not high.
But as Larry Mayer wrote for the team’s website, Bears general manager Ryan Poles insisted that he saw a team headed in the right direction.
“What I was really encouraged about was how we handled this mini-bye,” Poles said. “I think regardless of your record, the ability to look in the mirror and see what we do well, what did we not do well, what we have we struggled with and then attack those things.
“Our coaches met with the players, we met with the coordinators and just talked about that exactly, and then what’s the plan to improve and take the next step? The work that was put in this week was incredible, making some adjustments to get guys in positions to be successful and do better and hopefully win some games.”
Apparently, Poles was on to something because the Bears dominated the game on both sides of the ball and cruised to a win.
Offensively, the Bears gashed New England for 243 yards on the ground, and while Justin Fields didn’t light the world on fire, he made enough plays to keep the sticks moving. Defensively, the Bears held the Pats to just 260 yards of offense and forced four turnovers.
It was easily Chicago’s best game of the season and one that gives the team something headed into next week’s tilt with the Dallas Cowboys that has been sorely lacking in 2022: positive momentum.
Our Take:
Whether it’s just one week or an entirely new direction, that offense deserves credit for flipping the script of what we all saw against the Commanders. That embarrassing loss at home changed a lot, going into New England, a place that isn’t historically easy to play, and winning in a dominating fashion. Credit to Justin Fields, Luke Getsy, and those weapons for the performance they put on.
CBS Sports
Current Ranking: 25th
Last Week’s Ranking: 30th
Author: Pete Prisco
Author’s Take:
That team we saw in New England will win some more games this season. Credit to coach Matt Eberflus for getting that young group ready to play.
Our Take:
If the Bears can get 75% of that offense to show up each week, they’re going to win a lot of football games. There’s been a lot of questions surrounding this team, but there’s one thing for sure, Matt Eberflus has the potential to be a heck of a head coach in the NFL.
ESPN
Current Ranking: 28th
Last Week’s Ranking: 29th
Author: Courtney Cronin
Author’s Take:
Justin Fields has been under constant duress, which is exhibited by the Bears owning the league’s worst pressure (46.2%) and sack percentage (13.5%) entering Monday’s game. Those numbers reflect a combination of deficiencies along the offensive line in protecting Fields and the quarterback holding on to the ball too long (a league-high 3.03 seconds). Defenses have been using those things to their advantage to dial up more pressure on the second-year QB. No quarterback has been blitzed more (39%) this season than Fields.
Our Take:
Even with how well Justin Fields looked on Monday, he was running for his life. The offensive line still has a lot of work to be done, but it was impressive to see Fields use his legs and turn those broken plays into big gains in the air. If he can continue to do that, whether it be running with the ball or running and throwing, Fields will become a dangerous passer to blitz.
