Paul Rutherford-USA TODAY Sports
Justin Fields and the Chicago Bears needed a win over the New England Patriots on Monday night to avoid an ugly four-game losing streak.
Playing at home after winning two consecutive games, New England was mired in a controversy of its own with quarterback Mac Jones set to return from injury. He got the start over rookie Bailey Zappe, only to be replaced before the first half was even over.
Despite Zappe leading New England to two consecutive touchdown-scoring drives in the second quarter, its offense just couldn’t do anything from that point on.
As for the Bears, they road Fields’ career-best performance to a brilliant overall showing in a 33-14 road win. Below, we check in on five winners and losers from this “Monday Night Football” contest to conclude Week 7.
Related: Chicago Bears standing in Sportsnaut’s NFL power rankings
Perhaps, this All-Pro performer was looking to showcase what he has to offer for contending teams ahead of the Nov. 1 NFL trade deadline. It could also have been Smith’s way of helping keep Chicago in playoff contention following a three-game losing streak.
Either way, Smith was as dominant as we have seen in his career. The former first-round pick recorded 11 tackles (one for loss), a sack and an interception of Zappe to pretty much put this one away in the fourth quarter.
While that was an example of Smith being in the right place at the right time, he’s been brilliant in coverage for a good Bears defense on the season. That included heading into Week 7 yielding a mere 69.0 QB rating when targeted. He proved just how good he is again on Monday night.
Related: New England Patriots schedule and game-by-game predictions
A rookie fourth-round pick from Western Kentucky, Zappe had been the topic of conversation in New England ahead of Week 7. He won his first two starts in Mac Jones’ stead, performing at a high clip in the process.
Once Zappe took over for Jones in the second quarter Monday night, he proceeded to lead the team to two touchdown scoring drives out of the gate. From that point on, it was completely downhill for Zappe.
The youngster threw two ugly interceptions and lost a fumble as his Patriots failed to score on their final six drives of the game . He looked to be in completely over his head after Patriots fans inside Gillette Stadium gave him a standing ovation. As for the Pats, we have absolutely no idea where they go from here heading into Week 8 against the division-rival New York Jets. It was an ugly performance under center for Zappe and Co. Monday night.
Related: Chicago Bears schedule and game-by-game predictions
A second-round pick out of Penn State back in April, many had Brisker pegged as a top-32 selection given his ball-hawking ability with the Nittany Lions. Nothing we have seen from the safety thus far as a rookie has proven this narrative wrong.
Brisker entered Monday night’s game having yielded a 31.3% completion and 40.9 QB rating when targeted. Opposing quarterbacks had targeted him 16 times for a total of 49 yards. New England found out first-hand on Monday what this dude was capable of.
Brisker joins an elite-level Bears rookie class that has performed extremely well under first-year head coach Matt Eberflus through seven games. He looks like a legitimate Pro Bowl performer as a rookie. That’s not hyperbole.
Related: New England Patriots standing in Sportsnaut’s NFL defense rankings
Whether it was Jones or Zappe under center for New England, the team needed its rushing attack to continue performing at a high level. Primarily, second-year back Rhamondre Stevenson was tasked with providing balance.
It didn’t happen. New England entered Week 7 averaging 131.1 rushing yards per game. It came out of Monday’s loss with 70 yards on 19 attempts for an average of 3.7 yards per. Stevenson tallied all of 39 yards on 11 rushes. If New England is going to rebound from this ugly loss and somehow get back into playoff contention, this must change moving forward.
Fields has been among the worst starting quarterbacks in the NFL this season. The second-year signal caller was averaging a mere 144.8 passing yards per game with four touchdowns and five interceptions. Questions continued to pop up about whether he was actually the future under center in Chicago.
Even if it was for just one game, Fields proved the skeptics wrong. He looked much better tossing the rock in less-than-stellar conditions, as evidenced by this pass to tight end Cole Kmet.
Even with a lack of weapons, Fields completed 13-of-21 passes for 179 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He also used his feet to compile 82 yards and a score on 14 attempts.
Chicago’s offense looks so much better when Fields plays to his strengths. That is to say, showing off a dual-threat ability while making plays outside of the pocket. He did just that in Monday night’s win over New England.