Patriots can’t afford a letdown in Chicago
CHICAGO — The Patriots emerged victorious from their high-flying, high-scoring AFC showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs last week.
The game certainly lived up to all the advanced billing and hype. Tom Brady and Co. produced 500 yards of offense in the duel with young gunslinger Patrick Mahomes, not to mention a gamewinning drive in the final minutes, en route to capturing a thrilling 4340 victory. All of those heroics allowed the Pats to stay in the hunt for the AFC’s top seed.
What they can’t afford is a letdown today against the Bears at Soldier Field, especially with the anticipation of operating shorthanded. Tight end Rob Gronkowski did not make the trip due to back and ankle issues. That’s not the best sign toward him playing.
Falling victim to a trap game would just toss away all the positive momentum and kill all they’ve regained in terms of their standing in the big picture for the postseason. Even a loss to an NFC team.
Plus, they’re playing an opponent not too happy about losing in overtime, to a backup quarterback, in Miami last week. The Bears (3-2) are champing at the bit to atone for what they considered a poor performance.
The Patriots, yet to win on the road this season, better be ready to match the effort. Brady knows they can’t fall into the trap.
“We’ve got to flip the switch. It was a great win, but the clock’s ticking on the next week. You have to get going and figure out how to beat the next team,” he said Wednesday. “The football season is a marathon. You have to have a great process every week, win or lose. It’s disappointing and frustrating when you lose, and it can be distracting when you win. I don’t think you can let the highs of winning distract you from the realities of the situation.
“Now we’re going on the road, where we’re 0-2, and we’ve got to figure out how to play better when we travel. We’ve got our whole season ahead of us. We’re a very determined team to get the job done.”
The Patriots (4-2) were a good road team last year. Two of their three losses in 2017 were at home. This year it’s been a different story. They’ve already lost in Jacksonville and Detroit, and neither game was particularly close. They started out slowly, falling behind in both contests.
They really don’t want the string of bad performances on the road to continue, especially the way they’ve been playing of
late. With the offense really starting to come around in all aspects, it would be much tougher against a top defense like the Bears without Gronkowski, who was a beast as a blocker in the running game last week, while also making two huge catches down the stretch, including the final drive, to help take out the Chiefs.
Historically, the Pats are 9-3 against the Bears during the regular season. All three losses were at Soldier Field. The last time they played there was in 2010; the Pats blew them out, 36-10. They played them in Foxboro four years ago, and it also wasn’t a contest: 51-23.
The current Bears calling card is defense, with a menacing front seven led by Khalil Mack, acquired in a trade at the beginning of the season from Oakland.
He’s been a disruptive force ever since arriving in Chicago. The three-time Pro Bowl defensive end was the NFC Defensive Player of the Month in September with five sacks, four forced fumbles, a pick-six, four tackles for losses and a fumble recovery. It’s little wonder the Bears made him the highest-paid defender in NFL
history with a six-year, $141 million contract that guaranteed $90 million.
“He’s definitely a challenging guy to go against,” said Pats tackle LaAdrian Waddle, who is likely to draw the assignment with Marcus Cannon out with a concussion. “He can rush the passer, and he’s a physical player, and he’s going to play hard through the whistle, so you just have to be ready.”
Offensively, the Bears scheme might have a bit of a Chiefs flavor to it, given coach Matt Nagy is a disciple of Andy Reid.
They’re not quite as talented as the Chiefs, but they do have some players — running back Tarik Cohen and wide receiver Taylor Gabriel — with speed at the skill positions. Allen Robinson is another receiver who might give the Patriots trouble.
“The offense creates a lot of problems,” safety Devin McCourty said. “We’ve seen that from watching film. I mean, 45 points against Tampa. Back and forth against Miami last week. So it’s definitely going to be a tough challenge.”
We’ll see if the Pats are up to the challenge, if they can start fast on the road for a change, turn the page on last week and zero in on a team that wants to rip them to shreds. And most likely, do it without Gronk.
“We want to get a win on the road, we just haven’t done it,” McCourty said. “When you’re on the road and you fall behind . . . everything’s against you, and you’re just fighting uphill. So we talked about getting off to a fast start across the board — offense, defense, kicking game. We feel like that’s key for us if we want to play well in Chicago, not falling behind 14-3, 10-zip.” PREDICTION: PATRIOTS 27,
BEARS 24