FOXBORO - Drake Maye and the New England Patriots are on the road again this weekend, and will pay a visit to Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears. The matchup will pit two of the top three quarterbacks taken in the 2024 NFL Draft against each other.
Williams was taken first overall by Chicago and has been the team's starting QB from the jump. He's guided the Bears to a 4-4 record so far this season, throwing nine touchdowns to five interceptions. Williams recently had a great three-game stretch where he completed 74 percent of his passes (going 60-for-81) with seven touchdowns and just one pick in wins over the Rams, Panthers, and Jaguars.
But he's struggled the last two games, completing just 33 of his 65 passes (51 percent) with no touchdowns. The Bears lost both of those games, including Williams' matchup with No. 2 overall pick Jayden Daniels, who did something incredible at the end of his game against Chicago .
Now Williams will be squaring off with Maye, who unlike Williams, had to wait a few games before getting the keys to his team. Maye has given the Patriots a huge spark on offense thanks to his athletic running ability, but he hasn't lit it up as a passer just yet. You can blame New England's lack of firepower in the receiving corps for that, though Maye threw a pair of bad interceptions in last week's loss to the Titans.
Both Maye and Williams can make things happen through the air and with their legs, but Williams has a pretty solid collection of talent around him. It's headlined by rookie receiver Rome Odunze (25 receptions for 391 yards and a touchdown), DJ Moore (37 receptions, three touchdowns), tight end Cole Kmet (30 receptions, three touchdowns), and running back D'Andre Swift (averaging 4.0 yards per carry with four rushing touchdowns).
The Bears offense, however, isn't all that great overall. Chicago ranks 28th in the NFL in total offense at 294.6 yards per game, and 19th at 21.5 points per contest.
Both of those stats are, of course, better than what the New England offense has done this season. The Patriots are last in the league at 264.8 offensive yards per game and 30th at 15.7 points per contest.
At least both of the quarterbacks are a good reason to watch this Sunday's game.
On Wednesday, Maye said that he's been friends with Williams since high school and that the two attended some of the same football camps. He's looking forward to the matchup, and said that a play is never over with Williams and his ability to buy time in and out of the pocket.
"We're friends and I enjoyed watching him do his thing, and now we get to compete," Maye said Wednesday. "Anytime you go against a quarterback in your class, it's a little extra. Looking forward to getting out there and playing the Bears.
"We never played each other, so this will be cool," Maye added.
Here's what you need to know about Sunday's Patriots-Bears matchup in Chicago:
Patriots vs. Bears
Sunday's game will be the 16th meeting between the Patriots and the Bears. New England owns a 10-4 edge in the regular season matchups with Chicago, but the Bears won their only postseason meeting: A 46-10 blowout in Super Bowl XX. This weekend will be the New England's first trip to Chicago since a 38-31 win back on Oct. 21, 2018.The Bears won the last matchup, 38-31, in a Monday Night Football showdown at Gillette Stadium during the 2022 NFL season. One of the most memorable games between the two teams took place during the 2002 season, when Tom Brady and the Patriots came back from a 27-6 deficit in the third quarter to beat the Bears, 33-30, on a 20-yard touchdown catch by David Patten with 21 seconds left. The Chicago defense has the fifth-best turnover differential in the NFL at plus-seven. The Bears have come down with seven interceptions (by six different players) while forcing 11 fumbles and recovering eight. Safety Kevin Byard has an interception and two fumble recoveries for the season.Patriots-Bears connections
The Bears have four former Patriots on their roster: DL Byron Cowart (2019-22), OL Bill Murray (2020-23), DL Sam Roberts (2022-23), and DB Ameer Speed (2023). Chicago offensive coordinator Shane Waldron had a lengthy stint in New England, serving a role in the football operations department from 2002-04, as an offensive quality control coach in 2008, and tight ends coach in 2009.Only one former member of the Bears is on the New England staff: offensive assistant Omar Young, who spent two seasons as an offensive quality control coach in Chicago before joining the Patriots ahead of this season.Other Patriots-Bears Week 10 fun facts
Maye's running ability has been on full display since he took over as the team's starter. He had 95 yards on his scrambles last week against the Titans, and his 141 rushing yards over the last two games is the best in team history by a quarterback. If Maye runs for at least 40 yards in Chicago, he'll become the first Patriots quarterback to have three straight games with at least 40 yards rushing.Hunter Henry enters this week's game with a team-leading 39 receptions for 414 yards, and is on pace to finish the season with a career-best 74 receptions for 782 yards.Rhamondre Stevenson has scored two touchdowns in each of the last two games, rushing in a pair of scores against the Jets in Week 8 and contributing with a rushing and a receiving score (that incredible game-tying touchdown) last week at Tennessee. If he scores two touchdowns this week, Stevenson will be the first Patriots player with at least two touchdowns in three straight weeks since Randy Moss' three-game streak in 2007.If Stevenson scores a rushing touchdown this week, he will be the first Patriot with a rushing touchdown in three straight games since Damien Harris in 2022.Marcus Jones is averaging 15.6 yards per punt return, which ranks second in the NFL behind Kalif Raymond (16.6 yards per return) of the Detroit Lions.If Jones has a 60-yard punt return this weekend, he'll become just the fourth Patriots player with two punt returns of at least 60 yards in the same season. He'll join Gunner Olszewski (2020), Troy Brown (2001), and Irving Fryar (1985) as Patriots to accomplish the feat.
