Whenever my team plays on Thursday night, I always think of the classic 30 Rock scene.
Short weeks in the NFL are like that. As a blogger, it feels tough to get all your regular content into three days, so I can only imagine how the coaches and players feel. They have to cram in six days of prep and practice into three days.
But here we are, just hours away from watching the Chicago Bears take on the New England Patriots.
It should be a great game, with two young quarterbacks leading teams with good coaches and playoff aspirations.
We grabbed a few of our writers and got their take on what it will take for the Bears to win.
Sam: The formula for Chicago’s success is pretty straightforward at this point. Win the time of possession, keep the defense rested and give them a lead. Score, score and then score again. The Bears play best with a lead. Get the run game going, take shots with play action and then on defense, blitz and pressure Drake Maye. The Patriots are the more injured team in the matchup, so take advantage of backups wherever possible.
Josh: Another battle of 2024 quarterbacks; this one is going to come down to which QB gets to throw the ball. Keep Maye on the sideline or running from pressure. Use the total array of tools available to the offense and allow Dennis Allen to do Dennis Allen things.
Gary: It seems like a lifetime ago when Drake Maye and Caleb Williams matched up in 2024. Both QBs have taken tremendous strides, quickly becoming young faces of the league. Generating pressure on Maye is going to be a big key this week. The Patriots OL looks to be pretty banged up, so I expect Dennis Allen to turn up the heat even more to make Drake Maye as uncomfortable as possible. On offense, getting Monangai back would be huge but with the short week and no practice last week for him, I’m going to assume he misses his 3rd game. But the key is the same as always, establish the run game, and let your QB diagnose the defense ahead of him and continue working this highly efficient offense.
Jeff Berckes: Drake Maye has taken 11 sacks so far this season and the Patriots will be trotting out some depth offensive linemen on a short week against Dennis Allen’s exotic pressure looks? Get after it. Kyler Gordon might have 3 more. I’m not worried about the other side of the ball with Caleb back and locked in. I’ll bet we’ll see a couple deep shots on Thursday coming off the more controlled game plan – I’d like to see Zavion Thomas get a deep target here to take advantage of his speed.
What are your keys to the game? Let us know in the comments.