The Tape on Chicago: 14 Missed Tackles, Zero Takeaways, and a Quarterback Doing Way Too Much of the Work

When the team's own website says the stars were "a mixed bag," you know the film was rough. Patriots.com's After Further Review breakdown of Thursday's 30-24 loss in Chicago doesn't sugarcoat it. The Patriots are 4-3, and the guys who are paid to carry a banged-up roster mostly didn't. The one who did is the quarterback.

Drake Maye graded out as "mostly outstanding" by both the eye test and the numbers: 14 plus plays against 7.5 minus in the site's charting, and plus-0.34 EPA per drop-back. Those 14 plus plays are his second-most in a game this season, behind only the Week 4 win over Buffalo. Seven of them came out of structure, scrambling and extending, for 102 yards and a touchdown. The review compares it to a basketball player who wins by attacking the rim instead of shooting threes. That's his superpower, and I'm not arguing.

The knocks are real, though. The red-zone interception was a turnover-worthy play. The offense had two chances down 27-21 in the fourth and couldn't score. And some of Chicago's pressure got home because the protection calls at the line, which fall on the quarterback in this system, didn't pick it up.

Now the part that should bother Mike Vrabel. The defense missed a season-high 14 tackles. NextGen Stats has the Patriots' missed-tackle rate at 13.2 percent, 10th-highest in the league, and their 385 yards after missed tackles are fourth-most. They didn't force a turnover against the Bears, have seven takeaways all season and sit at minus-7 in turnover differential, tied for 31st. Vrabel's team identity list is painted on the wall in the team auditorium. Right under "effort and finish" are "ball disruption" and "DTF," meaning details, technique and fundamentals. Thursday night, they had the effort. They didn't have the other two.

Marcus Jones had a night to forget, missing a career-high five tackles and factoring into two Chicago touchdowns, including a 12-yard score to Colston Loveland. Christian Gonzalez, who has missed time with a shoulder injury and was noticeably under the weather after the game, gave up two 21-yard completions to Rome Odunze in the fourth quarter. Milton Williams had one pressure and one run stop. Christian Elliss had four pressures and four run stuffs, but he missed a sack on a third down that would have forced a punt from the Bears' own goal line and appeared to bust a zone on Luther Burden's 58-yard catch. Overall, the defense ranks 20th in EPA per play and 14th in DVOA. That's league average, and league average is not the plan.

The offense had its own problems. The patchwork line held up fairly well in pass protection against a 47.2 percent blitz rate, but the run game produced just 14 rushing yards before contact. A.J. Brown had three catches for 48 yards and missed a chance to finish through contact on a go ball. The review wonders if playing 52 snaps five days earlier against the Jets took the burst out of him. Morgan Moses is still playing on an injured foot. Rookie tight end Eli Raridon was involved in four stuffed runs as a blocker, and the review says the team really misses a blocking tight end like Julian Hill.

There were bright spots. Hunter Henry caught all seven targets and has 19 catches for 225 yards and two touchdowns in his last four games. The review calls his off-script connection with Maye "Mahomes-to-Kelce-esque." Rhamondre Stevenson, with the 48-yard touchdown to end the half, is described as "good at ball" in every phase. Rookie tight end Eli Raridon had a 30-yard touchdown on a seam route. And rookie edge Gabe Jacas had four pressures and a run stuff. The reviewer says his excitement level for Jacas is "through the roof."

My take: this is the most honest film review a team site has published all year, and the conclusion is simple. Maye is carrying an offense with a makeshift line and a quiet No. 1 receiver, and the defense keeps giving away the plays it should make. You don't need new players to fix 14 missed tackles. You need the nine days off to mean something.

New England plays next on Sunday, Nov. 1, at Miami, a 4:25 p.m. kickoff. Then it's Green Bay at home Nov. 8.