The New England Patriots’ Monday Night Football game against the Chicago Bears was like waking up from a nightmare and then falling back asleep and experiencing that same nightmare all over again.
Buy Patriots TicketsIt didn’t matter if you were Team Bailey Zappe or Team Mac Jones because both sides took a loss in Week 7. The offense went back to stinking, and the defense looked like an imposter.
Struggles on both sides of the ball culminated into a surprising blowout loss at home to a Bears team that was believed to be one of the worst in football heading into Monday’s game.
Here are the winners and losers from the Patriots’ 33-14 loss at home.
Loser: Mac Jones
Mac Jones didn’t even really get a chance in this game.
The Patriots’ starting quarterback struggled to get anything going other than his legs in his first game back with the team after missing the previous three weeks due to an ankle injury. All it took was one interception for coach Bill Belichick to give into the crowd chants and hand the reins back over to rookie quarterback Bailey Zappe.
It’s a tough turn of events for Jones, who worked his way back onto the field only to get booed back off by Patriots fans. Will what happened on Monday night shake his confidence? Does any resentment towards the situation become an issue?
Things are more complicated than ever now for the Patriots’ second-year quarterback.
Loser: Bailey Zappe
The Bailey Zappe love-fest came crashing back down to reality in the second half after the rookie quarterback racked up two interceptions. It was like night and day in comparison to the first half, when Zappe was wheeling and dealing in the pocket like the second coming of Tom Brady.
But that clearly isn’t what this is for the Patriots.
Zappe looked great in his games against the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready to take the job away from Jones, who went to a Pro Bowl in his rookie season. The honeymoon phase barely made it three weeks.
Loser: Trent Brown
There was hope the penalties would go down without Isaiah Wynn in the lineup on Monday. The starting right tackle, who leads the team in penalties, was held out with a shoulder injury.
However, it seemed like left tackle Trent Brown was determined to catch up to him as the most penalized player on the roster. It was an ugly showing from the veteran offensive lineman in a game where he gave up four individual penalties. His mistakes early on particularly had a huge impact on Mac Jones’ inability to get anything going right out of the gates.
Self-inflicted wounds have been the biggest issue for the Patriots so far this season, and most of those wounds have come at the tackle positions from both Brown and Wynn.
Winner: Matt Judon
Matt Judon continued to show why he’s one of the best defensive players in the league. On a night where there wasn’t much to celebrate for the Patriots, the Pro Bowl linebacker added 2.5 sacks, two tackles for a loss and three quarterback hits to what has already been a stellar season.
The Patriots couldn’t stop the run, and they were completely undisciplined in plugging their run lanes. But they could always count on the man with the red sleeves to find his way into the offensive backfield to make plays.
It’s just a shame there weren’t many other defensive players making plays against a Bears offense that had looked anemic up until this point.
Winner: Anfernee Jennings
Health has been the primary issue for Anfernee Jennings, who continues to show promise whenever he’s on the field. He finished the game with six tackles, one pass deflection and a sack. Along with Matt Judon, he was one of the few positives on defense for the Patriots in a game where the unit got completely dismantled.
He was a prevalent disruptive force on defense. Even when he wasn’t getting sacks, he was pushing the pocket and flushing out Justin Fields. Assuming the Patriots can get more disciplined along the defensive front, Jennings’ effort will show up in an even bigger way in future games.
Let’s just keep our fingers crossed he can actually stay on the field because this Patriots team is clearly better with him on it.
Loser: Bill Belichick
The Patriots have an issue with young, mobile quarterbacks considering Lamar Jackson was the last quarterback to embarrass Bill Belichick’s defense to this degree.
Chicago came into the game with an offense that looked anemic, and they suddenly found life at Gillette Stadium against a Patriots team finally playing with some momentum. That’s obviously gone after the defensive unit got crushed by Justin Fields and company.
And things didn’t look any better offensively, either. Belichick’s decision to bench Jones for Zappe looked like a genius move in the first half before completely crumbling in the second half.
