Bid for a late push pulls at the Patriots
FOXBOROUGH -- One of the common threads to the Patriots' three Super Bowl titles was the team's success after Thanksgiving.
In 2001, the Patriots were 9-0. In 2003, they were 8-0. And in 2004, the only blemish was a fluky loss to the Dolphins, as the team went 8-1.
Based on that history, it's no wonder quarterback Tom Brady declared this the key stretch of the Patriots' schedule.
"This is when the good teams really start to rise up," he said.
If the Patriots hope to make a run to their fourth Super Bowl title in six seasons, today's game against the Bears at Gillette Stadium figures to tell them a lot about their chances.
At 9-1 and backboned by a big-play offense and a swarming, turnover-driven defense, the Bears have established themselves as the class of the NFC. They appear to be the most formidable foe remaining on the Patriots' schedule.
The gears clearly were shifting in the Patriots' locker room throughout the week, as players quickly put last week's convincing 35-0 victory over the Packers behind them.
"This is the big push at the end," said left tackle Matt Light, who played on all three Super Bowl winners. "I think we do a pretty good job of staying focused and knowing what kind of battle we have to face. If we can continue to play the way we played last week -- not the mental errors, not the turnovers and all that stuff -- then we'll do all right."
Turnovers have been a staple for the Bears, who have a league-high 29 takeaways and have turned them into a whopping 119 points. Brady cited one play from the Bears' comeback 24-23 win over the Cardinals Oct. 16 as a reflection of the team's style: when cornerback Charles Tillman raked the ball out of running back Edgerrin James's hands and ran for a touchdown.
"They all rally to the ball, they all hit," Brady said. "You see a [ball carrier] in the open field and a defender will grab him, hold him up, and they'll just all go in there and you'll see three guys trying to rake the ball out."
The game pits the two best defenses in the NFL, as the Bears are allowing a league-low 12 points per game, while the Patriots have surrendered just 13.1. The Bears also have the league's best defense on third down, with opponents converting just 26.8 percent.
And for another subplot, today's contest marks the first on the new FieldTurf surface at Gillette Stadium. Brady is 19-1 in his career on artificial surfaces.
Meanwhile, with a win, the Bears can clinch the NFC North Division, which would tie the league record for the quickest clinching since the 16-game schedule was adopted in 1978. The game marks Chicago's third straight on the road, after wins over the Giants and Jets.
Lovie Smith, the reigning NFL Coach of the Year who last week became the second-fastest Bears coach to reach 25 wins (behind George Halas), believes it's a measuring-stick game for his team.
"The Patriots are one of the best football teams in the league," he said. "Whenever you get a chance to go against a team like that, you are anxious to see how you match up, and especially on the road in a hostile environment. You have to play the best to see exactly where you are."
Now that Thanksgiving has passed, the Patriots know exactly where they are -- in the crucial part of their schedule. Since 2001, the team is 33-6 after Thanksgiving, the best record in the league over that span.
"It always comes down to how well you perform at the end of the season," Light said. "That's why we try to build every week to put ourselves in position to make a good run at it."
