Soldier Field in Chicago, May 2014. Photo by Ken Lund, CC-BY-SA-2.0, resized.Patriots at Bears: two year-two coaches, Drake Maye vs. Caleb Williams and a 4-2 showdown
Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. Photo by Mark Goebel, CC-BY-2.0, resized.Year one: both in the playoffs
Vrabel’s first Patriots team went 14-3 in 2025. It beat the Chargers 16-3, the Texans 28-16 and the Broncos 10-7 to reach Super Bowl LX, where Seattle won 29-13.
Johnson, hired away from Detroit’s offensive coordinator job, took the Bears to 11-6. They beat Green Bay 31-27 in the wild-card round before losing 20-17 to the Rams.
Regular-season wins, 2025
Drake Maye in 2024. Photo by Tennessee Titans, CC-BY-3.0, resized.Maye’s turnaround
New England started 2026 at 1-2. Maye threw one touchdown pass and six interceptions in the first three games, and the Patriots lost 35-6 in Jacksonville in Week 3.
Then the offense turned. Over the last three games, all wins, he has 10 touchdown passes and one interception.
- Seahawks 13, Patriots 10 in Seattle
- Patriots 20, Steelers 3
- Jaguars 35, Patriots 6 in Jacksonville
- Patriots 29, Bills 26 in Orchard Park
- Patriots 45, Raiders 17
- Patriots 26, Jets 19
Maye’s touchdown passes by week
One more game with three touchdown passes would make him the first Patriots quarterback with four straight since Tom Brady in 2014. His 10 touchdown passes of 30 yards or more over the last two seasons are the most in the league.
“You want to make kind of the right play instead of kind of the big play.”— Drake Maye, Oct. 20
Caleb Williams during the 2025 season. Photo by Joe Glorioso for All-Pro Reels, CC-BY-SA-4.0, resized.Williams’ three missing weeks
Chicago opened with a 59-37 win in Carolina, where Williams threw two touchdown passes and ran for two more. A week later he strained his right hamstring in the fourth quarter of a 9-3 loss to Minnesota.
He had started all 36 regular-season games and both playoff games since the Bears drafted him first overall in 2024. He missed the next three.
- Bears 27, Eagles 7. Case Keenum, the third-string quarterback, throws two touchdown passes and runs for a third.
- Bears 23, Jets 12
- Packers 31, Bears 7 in Green Bay
- Williams returns: Bears 31, Falcons 23 in Atlanta
Bears points by week
“Question me and my character and all those, you know, those bunch of different things and how I went about my injury. I think that was just a little added.”— Caleb Williams, on his motivation for the return, Oct. 20
Ben Johnson at Halas Hall, Oct. 20, 2026. Image: Chicago Bears / YouTube.The numbers that split them
The Bears run the ball better than anyone. They lead the league at 160.7 rushing yards a game and hold the ball for an average of 36:01. New England is seventh on the ground and has the edge through the air.
Rushing yards per game
Passing yards per game
“It’s a dangerous combination of a guy that’s an elite deep ball thrower, along with, he can crush you with his legs also. And I think that combination is deadly.”— Ben Johnson, on Drake Maye
“I’m not buying that lie. I hope the players don’t either. He’s as fast as he needs to be.”— Mike Vrabel, asked whether Williams looked slower in his return
Both teams are short-handed. New England put receiver Romeo Doubs on injured reserve with a shoulder injury, and Vrabel said linemen Ben Brown and Alijah Vera-Tucker are “probably not” available. Chicago is again without defensive ends Montez Sweat, who is suspended, and Dayo Odeyingbo, who is on injured reserve.
William Perry at Clemson in 1982. Photo by Taps yearbook staff, resized.From Super Bowl XX to now
This is the 17th meeting between the teams, counting the one that Chicago fans remember best. In Super Bowl XX, a Bears team featuring William Perry beat New England 46-10.
Since then, the Patriots are 9-2 against Chicago. Their 11-4 regular-season record against the Bears is their best against any NFC opponent, and they have won four straight in Chicago.
- Super Bowl XX: Bears 46, Patriots 10
- Down 27-6 late in the third quarter, the Patriots win 33-30 on Tom Brady’s 20-yard touchdown pass to David Patten with 21 seconds left, with the Bears playing home games in Champaign during the Soldier Field rebuild.
- Bears 33, Patriots 14 in Foxborough, the only other prime-time meeting
- Patriots 19, Bears 3 at Soldier Field: nine sacks of rookie Caleb Williams, 142 yards allowed, Chicago 1-for-14 on third down
“Personally, I think he might be the most dangerous quarterback with his legs in the league right now.”— Patriots safety Kevin Byard III, who spent the last two seasons in Chicago, on Williams
Kickoff at Soldier Field is 8:15 p.m. ET on Thursday, which is 3:15 a.m. Friday in Cairo. The winner moves to 5-2. After that, the Patriots go to Miami on Nov. 1, and the Bears visit Seattle for a Monday night game on Nov. 2.
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