The Bears don’t know which Patriots quarterback they’ll face on Monday night, but they don’t much care, either.
Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said today that whether it’s Mac Jones or Bailey Zappe starting for New England, the job of his defense will be unchanged.
“I feel that really the offense is the Patriots’ offense, so I don’t really see a big difference when I watch the tape, before or after. To me it’s the offense that they’re running, it’s their style and they’re going to stick with that,” Eberflus said.
Few people would have said before the season that there would be little difference between how the Patriots’ offense looks between Jones and Zappe. Jones was a first-round pick in 2021 who had a strong rookie season, and Zappe was a fourth-round pick in 2022 who was a third-stringer until both Jones and Brian Hoyer got hurt.
But given how Zappe has exceeded expectations -- and how Jones struggled before getting injured in the third game -- it’s reasonable to think the Patriots’ offense won’t look much different whether Jones or Zappe is at quarterback.