Which Chicago Bears laid duds in Week 7 vs. the Patriots?

The Chicago Bears were able to ride the strongest team effort of the season to a convincing 33-14 win over the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football on the road. It felt like everyone on the team started to make plays when it counted, so there were no real duds today besides one position group.

The Chicago Bears offensive line cannot protect Justin Fields in the pocket

The offensive line was the dud of the day because they continued to struggle to keep Justin Fields safe. They have been good as a unit in run blocking, especially guys like Braxton Jones and Teven Jenkins, but the unit as a whole just fails in pass protection.

We saw the Bears finally use designed runs and rollouts in order to keep Fields from getting hit consistently. We saw how things went against the Washington Commanders when they were eaten alive by that defensive line. It was clear that a big part of the game plan was to minimize the number of time Fields spent in the pocket.

When he was in the pocket, he got rushed from both sides. Matthew Judon specifically dominated the line of scrimmage and was in Fields’ face all night long. Both Braxton Jones and Larry Borom failed to contain Judon, and some of the other Patriots pass rushers fed off of that.

The offensive line is even more banged up now that Lucas Patrick is out with a toe injury. We will probably see Jones, Michael Schoefield, Sam Mustipher, Jenkins, and Borom as the starting unit next week if Patrick has to miss time. Against one of the best fronts in the league in the Dallas Cowboys, they have to step up and protect Fields while he is in the pocket.

In what was a strong night for most of the team, the offensive line showed that they are not functional in pass protection. They were able to pick up some blitzes to save sacks, but Justin Fields has to bail them out too many times with his legs. Something has to change, or Fields is going to take a very unfortunate hit sometime soon.