NEW ENGLAND (10-2) At CHICAGO (9-3)
Sunday, 4:15 p.m., CBS
OPENING LINE – Patriots by 3
RECORD VS. SPREAD – New England 8-4-0; Chicago 6-5-1
SERIES RECORD – Patriots lead 7-4
LAST MEETING – Patriots beat Bears 17-13, Nov. 26, 2006.
LAST WEEK – Patriots beat Jets 45-3; Bears beat Detroit 24-20
PATRIOTS OFFENSE – OVERALL (13), RUSH (13), PASS (11)
PATRIOTS DEFENSE – OVERALL (31), RUSH (19), PASS (31)
BEARS OFFENSE – OVERALL (29), RUSH (22), PASS (26)
BEARS DEFENSE – OVERALL (3), RUSH (2), PASS (13)
STREAKS, STATS AND NOTES – Patriots clinch playoff spot for eighth time in 10 years with win or tie. They could get in with a loss this week under one of these scenarios: loss or tie by Miami plus loss or tie by Jacksonville; or loss or tie by Miami along with loss or tie by Indianapolis. Patriots could also earn spot this weekend if they clinch strength of victory tiebreaker over certain teams. … Patriots have won four straight and are tied with Falcons for best record in NFL. They are only team in NFL with nine or more wins the past 10 seasons; 33-5 against NFC since 2001. … New England coming off back-to-back 45-point showings against Detroit and New York and averaging league-high 31.6. … Brady has thrown four touchdowns in back-to-back games and gone seven straight without interception. … Rob Gronkowski’s six TD catches are team record for rookie tight end. They are also tops among rookie TEs in NFL this season, while Aaron Hernandez ranks second with four. One more TD catch by Hernandez would make them first rookie TE teammates with at least five in same season. … CB Devin McCourty has six interceptions and is two shy of the club rookie record set by Mike Haynes in 1976. He has three straight games with an interception – one shy of Haynes’ team record in 1976. … Bears have five straight wins since their bye. … Defense has allowed 175 points (14.6 per game), second fewest in NFL. … Offense has 164 rushing attempts and 151 pass plays (attempts plus sacks) in last five games after relying heavily on pass in early going. … After ranking at bottom on third-down conversions for much of year, Bears have converted 36 of 68 during this win streak; they’re still 28th at 33.6 percent. … Bears have 14 sacks over last five games – five by DE Julius Peppers. Peppers and DE Israel Idonije tied for team lead with seven sacks. … WR Earl Bennett caught seven passes for career-high 104 yards at Detroit last week. … CB D.J. Moore has team-high four interceptions. … Devin Hester tied with Brian Mi tchell for league record with 13 career kick returns for TDs (nine punts, four kickoffs). He and Mitchell tied for second with nine punt returns for TDs, trailing Eric Metcalf by one.
Add A Comment