The Chicago Bears have defeated the New England Patriots for the first time ever in in NFL history in Foxborough, as Justin Fields impressed in a 33-14 win on Week 7 of Monday Night Football.
The loss for the Patriots will delay coach Bill Belichick’s 325th total career win, as he remains joint-second in the ranking along with Bears legend George Halas (324) and behind Miami Dolphins’ Don Shula (347).
The power went off twice at Gillette Stadium with about two hours to go before the scheduled 8:15 p.m. ET kickoff and the outages left parts of the stadium’s bowl in the dark.
However, that didn’t prevent Fields from carrying the Bears (3-4) to its third win of the season once it was kickoff time.
In a matchup of quarterbacks from the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship game, Fields outperformed the returning Mac Jones, who led Alabama to victory over Fields’ Ohio State two-years-ago and was returning from a three-week layoff prior to Monday’s game after suffering an ankle injury in the final play against the Ravens last month.
For the first time in 103 years, the Bears beat the New England Patriots in Massachusetts 33-14
Bears QB Justin Fields threw for 179 yards and a TD, ran for 82 yards, completing 69% of passes
Patriots’ legendary coach Bill Belichick will have to wait another week for his 325th NFL win
The Bears huddle in warm-ups prior to Monday Night Football’s game broadacsted on ESPN
And Fields also outplayed Patriots rookie Bailey Zappe, who came on after Jones was managed just two three-and-outs and an interception in his return.
By the end of the game, Fields threw for 179 yards and a touchdown and ran for 82 yards and caught an interception.
With the damp Gillette Stadium crowd chanting ‘Zappe! Zappe!’ the fourth-round draft pick from Western Kentucky led the Patriots to back-to-back touchdowns and a 14-10 lead.
But Fields answered with a 25-yard pass to Khalil Herbert and then, after Zappe fumbled in the last yeo minutes, the Bears (3-4) added a field goal to make it 20-14 at the half.
In the second half it was all Chicago, which ran off 23 unanswered points.
Zappe was 5-of-6 for 109 yards and a touchdown in the first half. But in the second, he was 9-of-16 for 76 yards and two interceptions. Jones completed 3-of-6 passes for 13 yards, with one interception. Rhamondre Stevenson caught 8-passes-for-59 yards and ran 11-times-for-39 for the Patriots (3-4).
Patriots’ returning, starting QB Mac Jones was subbed out of the game after two possessions
Patriots backup Bailey Zappe came on for his fourth league appearance, throwing for 185 yards
The Patriots struggled to get its offense going throughout the game, only scoring 14 points
Fields ran 14-times-for 82 yards, including five third-down scrambles for first downs. David Montgomery ran for 62 yards and Herbert did the same for Chicago, which had lost three straight games and four out of five.
The Bears had also lost five straight to the Patriots and eight out of nine since beating New England in the 1986 Super Bowl 46-10.
The Patriots honored former defensive lineman Richard Seymour at halftime as he was presented his Hall of Fame ring by owner Robert Kraft. Seymour was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this past summer.
He spent eight seasons with New England and was a member of three Super Bowl winning teams.
Justin Fields leaves the field after carrying the Bears to their third win of the season, going 3-4
Bears running back David Montgomery (shown) scored the last touchdown of the game in Q3
The bittersweet news for the Bears amid the win is that offensive guard Lucas Patrick left in the first with a toe injury.
Safety Jaquan Brisker also laid down injured on the field after getting kicked in the nuts by Jones in the but managed to continue and even followed up with an interception soon afterwards.
For the Patriots, safety Kyle Dugger left in the third quarter with an ankle injury.
Center David Andrews was evaluated for a head injury after taking a blindside block from Bears defensive lineman Mike Pennel following a fourth-quarter interception. Pennel was ejected on the play.
The Patriots will hope to bounce back next Sunday, a day prior to Halloween, against a galvanized New York Jets team trying to make the playoffs.
While the Bears travel to Texas to take on the Dallas Cowboys, also on Sunday.