2026 Week 7: Chicago Bears 30, New England Patriots 24

By Kevin Schroeder
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Updated: November 2, 2026

Dealing. [Photo: Patrick McDermott, Getty Images]

Player grades can be found at the Qwality Sports Substack.

Where ya been?

I started watching the tape of the Packers game, but then I had a power outage at the house and by the time I got power back, I didn’t have time to get the blog done. The short version is that I saw the same thing everyone else on Twitter who watches tape saw: a backup QB played like a backup. On defense, the Bears couldn’t defend the Packers “chuck it up and hope” offense because the D-line couldn’t get pressure on its own, even against an O-line as awful as Green Bay’s, and the secondary isn’t good enough to cover once Dennis Allen brings extra guys to try to get pressure. More on that later. Anyway, I’m not going to bother doing that whole film post because the point of watching film is to learn about the team; to understand what worked, what didn’t, and most importantly, why. The why is simple: Tyson Bagent is an okay backup and that’s it. The idea of him becoming a solid starter should be pretty well dead. He is a guy who can maybe hold down the fort for a few weeks if necessary, but if Caleb, or any QB he ends up backing up, is ever out for any length of time, or during the playoffs, the team is screwed. And to paraphrase Tom Moore on why Peyton Manning’s backups didn’t get more reps, there’s nothing to be learned from “screwed.” This won’t affect the Stars of the Game standings, as that segment was going to be some joke about how the stars were the final whistle and Culver’s or something. The Falcons game, which didn’t get done on time because it was a short week, will get done, probably over the bye week.

Let’s talk about this game now

I touched on one big thing already – Allen had to bring extra guys to get pressure and then disguise who’s blitzing, which led to things like Shemar Turner dropping into coverage and getting completely lost, which is understandable because he is a defensive lineman. This is why the Jeffery Simmons trade was so huge. Simmons’ presence should significantly reduce the need for some of those blitz packages and let coverage responsibilities return to the defensive backs instead of Shemar Turner.

Speaking of the defensive backs, though, I am sick and tired of Jaylon Johnson. This was one of his better outings this season in terms of coverage, which isn’t saying much, but any positivity on that front is grossly outweighed by the three blatant business decisions he made, one of which led to a touchdown for the Patriots. As long as Poles is working the phones, see if you can bring back Nahshon Wright for a late-round pick. Riq Woolen would be nice, but I’d rather bring Khalil Mack back and I don’t think you can do both. The point is: it’s time to bench Jaylon. Gordon’s back, so Muhammad can move outside and while I still don’t love Tyrique Stevenson, at least he’s not out there making business decisions.

What about the offense?

This might have been Caleb’s best game as a pure passer. If he’s doing this when his leg is 100%, he could legitimately become the best QB in the league. My one knock on Caleb here is that there were a few instances, in particular the sack right before the field goal to go up 9, where he tried to play hero ball and it didn’t work out. The mental mistakes were his only negative marks of the day, though, which is pretty impressive. He needed to be that good because the run game wasn’t particularly great. Bradbury struggling gets filed under “what else is new,” Jonah Jackson’s struggles lead me to believe he was more hurt than anybody let on. Something to watch the next two games as the Bears take on stout run defenses. The Kmet injury sucks, but Roush game me reasonable confidence here that he could step into that role and be at least solid.

Monsters

Caleb, Odunze, Burden, Loveland, Wright, Thuney, D’Marco Jackson

Chipmunks

Bradbury, Jonah Jackson, Lynch, Jaylon

Four Stars of the Game

Caleb Williams