You want to be careful about declaring anything a watershed moment.
Something you may think in real time is a big flippin’ deal turns out to have only been a mirage.
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Like last year, when the Patriots stunned the Bills in October and Mac Jones looked like Joe Montana. Did a light come on? Had the team in freefall grabbed a foothold with their second win? No. That was just a dead cat bounce. They didn’t win again until December 7.
Or this year, when the Patriots didn’t just take the Bengals "to the hill" but also into "deep water" in a season-opening win. Yeah. They didn’t win again until three weeks ago and got themselves taken to "the woodshed" several times along the way.
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So anyone babbling about this team being a couple breaks from 6-4 or what-iffing about how things would look if they’d snuck out the Titans, Dolphins and Seahawks games needs their mouth taped.
We all watch the games and know what we’re looking at. A bad roster with a good but green-as-broccoli quarterback and a wet-behind-the-ears coaching staff that -- to its very real credit -- does have a decent share of grit and resilience. That, even if it doesn’t always show competence of discipline, does show a pretty high level of buy-in.
Every Sunday isn’t a referendum on where you stand in the league. The games are just a checkpoint on where you are relative to the team you’re playing. And if the other team is in the process of quitting -- like the Jets and Bears -- and your team has not quit and is in fact incrementally improving on every front? Then you might take your less-talented roster and get a win.
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The truth is, the Patriots aren’t on the way up the mountain. They’re barely out of base camp.
Sorry to pee on the campfire, but they beat a dead-ass Bears team stocked with a bunch of eye-rolling, rock-kicking, well-paid babies who are biding their time until their Eberflus gets Eberflushed.
But there are two non-football developments we’re seeing that are going to have some lasting impact.
First is the fact that Jerod Mayo has -- despite all the turbulence in his first year – gotten a helluva lot of buy-in from his players. After the "soft" heard-round-the-world that Mayo uttered after the Jaguars loss, there was a pregnant pause while we waited to see how the team would respond.
And in the three games since – admittedly against fellow dregs -- they’ve won twice, cleaned up the penalties, bowed up a bit against the run and deferred to their very, very likeable young quarterback.
On Sunday, they played their best. They didn’t just play their best; they coached their best. Which is also noteworthy because Mayo needs the buy-in of his staff, which is a patchwork collection of holdovers and new additions.
Defensively, the Patriots saw a Bears offensive line that couldn’t protect their indecisive quarterback and attacked. They used Brenden Schooler as a spy. They set the edge like demons most of the day. They kept the heat coming.
Offensively, DeMario Douglas had innovative plays designed for him. Kayshon Boutte -- who (developing opinion) is a better player than Ja’Lynn Polk -- got more targets. Play-action off wide-zone runs resulted in wide-open targets. The marriage between Rhamondre Stevenson’s sometimes slithering/sometimes pounding style and the determined work of the offensive line yielded a rushing attack that didn’t leave us saying, “Why bother?” Drake Maye probably played his worst game and got his first win.
Which brings me to the second development from this game and last week. And the one that really matters. The one that is a watershed moment for the franchise.
Drake Maye is ascending completely to the role of franchise quarterback. He’s the hood ornament, the big toe, the head honcho, the capo di tutti capi, the final boss.
I don’t know what the hell he said to his (emphasis “his”) team on Wednesday after a sloppy practice, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence the level of competency everywhere rose. People want to be led. But they HAVE to be led by someone they respect. Someone who doesn’t just come to the position by fiat, but who grows into it. Maye did that.
It’s interesting because Maye showed what a sharp leader he is by slow-playing assumption of the leadership mantle. Near the end of training camp, Mayo said he wanted Maye to be less deferential and less accepting of his role as Jacoby Brissett’s apprentice. He wasn’t going to win the job out of camp, but he still needed to compete to try and win it. And it was around that time that Maye’s performance started to ascend.
Maye didn’t come in and bigfoot the situation, acting like the team was his. And in showing that early deference, then elevating, he showed an understanding of a group dynamic where Brissett entered camp as the veteran leader.
It’s hard to watch Sunday’s game and not see the contrast between the two quarterback situations. Caleb Williams is the leader of an offense that’s spending $52 million in cap space on Keenan Allen, Cole Kmet, D’Andre Swift. Williams texted the Bears' fourth-round punter when he was drafted and told him they wouldn’t need his services much this season.
Now, as Williams goes through the fits-and-starts a rookie quarterback inevitably encounters, his receivers are losing their collective minds at him and recently-hired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.
Maye let the leadership game come to him. And when he had had enough of seeing lapses this week -- he also copped to having plenty of his own -- he spoke up. And the team responded. It’s that simple.
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Maye’s on-field performance as well as his willingness to lead and make demands without being a dink are going to go a long way on a team that’s going to churn its roster around him. Maye is not just the de facto leader of the team. He earned it.
Beating the horrible Bears isn’t a signal the Patriots are suddenly competent. The only upcoming game against a team in disarray is in Week 13 versus the Colts. They are still going to take their lumps in the final seven games.
But if you’re looking for lasting impact from this game, it's that in Maye, they’ve got the right guy to lead. On the field and off.
