Bears Patriots Matchup Is More Than Caleb Williams Versus Drake Maye
In terms of promoting a matchup, ad agencies prefer to focus on individual matchups in team sports, rather than the team matchups. That will be the case all week in and around Chicago and Boston, as the Bears and Patriots faceoff during week 10 on Sunday. The matchup will be billed as Caleb Williams versus Drake Maye, but the game is more than that.
For starters, just like the matchup between the Commanders and the Bears, the two quarterbacks won't play against each other for the entire game. Though it would be amusing, Caleb Williams is unlikely to be featured in any defensive packages. In a sport where each roster is comprised of 53 players that all have specific functions, it's never player versus player, or even player versus team.
The media will use the contest, and inevitably the result, as a way to compare the first pick and third pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. If the Patriots win, there will be speculation that Bears should have taken Maye, and not Williams, with the first pick. If Williams wins, it will be pegged as a showdown that will last for decades.
The real question for both teams will be about how they finished last season, and the progress of their respective rebuilds. The Bears finished 2023 with a record of 7-10. They had acquired the Carolina Panthers first round pick before the season, which ended up being the top pick in the draft, and Caleb Williams. The Bears also took Washington receiver Rome Odunze with their own pick (9th overall).
Despite their draft, the Bears offense is scoring less points in 2024 and gaining fewer yards than last year. The defense is the same (scoring defense is better), and the team is 4-4. The rebuild is not moving quickly. The same could be said for their opponent. The New England Patriots finished 2023, with a record of 4-13, with the only bright spot on the team, a sixth round pick, in Demario Douglas.
Sporting the worst offensive line in the NFL, the Patriots thought the best way to rebuild their team, was drafting a quarterback with their first pick, and a receiver with their second pick. Not surprisingly, the Patriots have a quarterback that has no time to throw the ball, and no receivers worth throwing to.
Stadium rant reached out Jim Wickens, who runs the website nfldraftfanatics.com, and hosts the shows draft podcast on Youtube, his thoughts on the matchup, and he had this to say:
"The Bears rebuild was launched with two top 10 picks, and an aggressive GM on the hot seat. Some aggressive trades to help the new QB, with top 10 draft picks on OL as well. The Patriots are further behind in their rebuild- you do not see the OL or WR investment surrounding Drake Maye that Caleb Williams has, and 2025 is not the draft for a team which needs OL, and 2025 is not the year to use free agency for a rebuild. The media will love the #1 vs #3 matchup, but on paper this guy says the Patriots are two years away."
His sentiment is echoed by the knowledgeable, and dismissed by the delusional, who still think the Patriots are playoff contenders. If the teams scouting department spent a little more time on his website, they might not be struggling as bad as they have been in 2024. No matter which quarterback the fans and/or media anoint the winner of the game, both of these teams will be losers when the final buzzer sounds.