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Despite coming off back-to-back wins and seemingly building some momentum, the New England Patriots struggled mightily in their primetime debut this season. The team of head coach Bill Belichick lost to the visiting Chicago Bears with a final score of 33-14.
The Patriots’ performance was a concerning one on both sides of the ball. Offensively, the team started Mac Jones in his first game back from a high ankle sprain, but he struggled and after tossing another interception — his sixth in effectively 13 quarters of action — he was benched in favor of backup Bailey Zappe.
Zappe led two quick touchdown drives but it all went downhill from there. He ended up tossing two interceptions as well, and was credited with a lost fumble on a botched handoff.
On defense, the Patriots allowed Chicago’s run game to dominate. Not counting an end-of-game kneel-down, the visitors gained 244 rushing yards on 44 carries for an average of 5.5 yards per attempt; the Bears also scored two touchdowns on the ground — including one from their leading rusher, dual-threat quarterback Justin Fields.
All in all, it was a very bad day for New England. Anyway, in order not to miss any of the Pats Pulpit pre- and post-game coverage of the game, please make sure to bookmark and regularly re-visit this story stream.