The Chicago Bears and New England Patriots rebounded from their losing 2024 campaign to become the NFL’s best teams of the season after 13 weeks.
The Bears, who finished last year with five wins and 12 losses in last place in the North division, are the number one team in the National Conference (NFC) with nine wins and three losses, ahead of the favored Los Angeles Rams and the champion Philadelphia Eagles, a team they defeated last Thursday 15-24. The
Ben Johnson revs up Chicago
Chicago replaced Matt Eberflus as head coach for this NFL season with Ben Johnson, former offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions.
In his first experience as coach, he revolutionized the team that now depends on itself to get into the playoffs as the number one team in the NFC.
This would entitle them to rest the first week of the playoffs and play all their games at home.
Johnson has been able to leverage 24-year-old quarterback Caleb Williams, a Heisman Trophy winner in 2022, as the leader of his Bears’ offense.
The job was not easy; Chicago started the campaign with a pair of defeats.
But they have risen to nine wins and only one loss in the last 10 games.
It will not be easy to keep pace.
Among the five remaining games, there is only one game against Cleveland Browns.
In the rest of the season, they must visit and host the Green Bay Packers, their bête noire of recent years, take on the San Francisco 49ers and close against the Detroit Lions, a divisional rival.
Mike Vrabel transforms the Patriots
In New England, team owner Robert Kraft followed the same path to change the face of his franchise.
He fired Jerod Mayo after a disastrous 2024 for Mike Vrabel, a former player who served under the historic Bill Belichick.
The results are there for all to see, with the Pats not looking so dominant since the first two decades of the century with Belichick as coach and Tom Brady at the controls.
Vrabel has stoked the talents of 23-year-old pass rusher Drake Maye, who commands the league’s second-best aerial attack.
He is now the quarterback with the best pass completion percentage of the season, with a 71 percent completion rate.
This despite the fact that he is the fourth most caught passer, which speaks of great stability in finding his receivers at his young age, despite the pressure he is under.
Drake’s performance last Monday in the Pats’ 10th consecutive win in a 33-15 victory over the Giants confirmed him as the only quarterback with more than 200 yards per game this NFL season.
Closing of the season full of risks
Like the Bears, the New England Patriots have it within their reach to finish the season in first place in the AFC to rest up for the first week of the postseason, when they will host all of their games.
Their four remaining games include two high-stakes clashes against the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens and two in which they are favorites over the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins.
With information from EFE
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