New England Patriots vs Chicago Bears Match Player Stats: Who Really Holds the Edge on Thursday Night?

Two quarterbacks drafted three picks apart. Two 4-2 teams. One Thursday night at Soldier Field. The stat sheet tells a much weirder story than the records do, and the numbers hiding in the injury report might decide the whole game.

Here is the full breakdown of the New England Patriots vs Chicago Bears match player stats heading into Week 7 of the 2026 season. You get the quarterback duel, the running backs, the pass catchers, the defenses, and a head-to-head comparison table you can screenshot.

Everything below uses the latest numbers available as of Monday, October 19, 2026. The game kicks off Thursday, so treat this as your pre-game cheat sheet. Once the final whistle blows, the season totals will shift, and I flag exactly which ones to refresh.

Patriots vs Bears Game Snapshot: Everything in One Table

Before we get into individual players, lock in the basics. This is a primetime game with a short week for both teams, and that matters more than most fans realize.

Odds come from DraftKings via Sports Illustrated and can move before kickoff. Treat them as context for how the market sees the stats, not as betting advice.

Both teams come in on a high. New England has won three straight, and Chicago just got its starting quarterback back. That sets up a rare early-season measuring stick between two teams that both look like playoff contenders.

New England Patriots vs Chicago Bears Match Player Stats: 2026 Season Leaders

Let’s start with the raw numbers. These are the season leaders for both rosters through Week 6, pulled from the ESPN and Yahoo Sports stat leaderboards.

Notice what jumps out. Chicago’s leading passer has only three games on his résumé, while Maye has carried New England for the whole season. That single detail explains why the quarterback comparison is so lopsided on paper and so close in reality.

Passing Leaders

Maye owns the biggest volume at 1,228 yards, but eight touchdowns against seven interceptions is the number that keeps Patriots fans nervous. He has cleaned that up lately, with zero picks in his Week 6 win over the Jets.

Williams has the tiny sample. His 712 yards in three appearances put him on a healthy per-game pace, and his two rushing touchdowns add a dimension Maye only occasionally brings.

Rushing Leaders

Swift leads both teams in rushing yards at 354, and his four touchdowns make him Chicago’s most reliable ground weapon. Stevenson sits at 227 yards on 57 carries, which works out to roughly four yards a pop.

Swift’s edge in carries (78 to 57) tells you how much more Chicago leans on the run. That ties directly into the game-script question we’ll get to later.

Receiving Leaders

Odunze leads the combined group with 273 yards on 17 catches, and that works out to a strong yards-per-catch figure. Doubs trails at 219 yards but has two touchdowns, and he’s listed as questionable, so his status matters.

If Doubs sits, Maye loses his top receiving producer on a short week. That is the kind of injury that quietly wrecks a stat line.

Defensive Leaders

Ponder’s 4.5 sacks lead everyone in this matchup, with Booker right behind at four. Booker now carries extra weight for Chicago because the Bears are missing a bigger name up front, which we cover in the defense section below.

Head-to-Head Comparison: Patriots vs Bears Side by Side

Here is the table most people want. It puts both teams in the same frame so you can see where each side wins and loses.

Count the edges and you get a split decision. The Patriots win on quarterback track record and pass rush. The Bears win on running game, injuries, and where the game is played.

That balance explains the tight 2.5-point spread. Oddsmakers see two similar teams, with home field and health tipping the scale toward Chicago.

Drake Maye vs Caleb Williams: The Quarterback Duel

This matchup is the headline for a reason. Both quarterbacks came out of the 2024 draft, with Williams going first overall and Maye third. Thursday is their first meeting since that rookie-year game in 2024.

Both have grown, both have flaws, and both are coming off their best games of the season.

Drake Maye by the Numbers

Maye finished last season one first-place vote short of the MVP award, then struggled in the Super Bowl and again early this year. The turnaround has been dramatic. His offense racked up 74 points in the two games before the Jets matchup.

Against New York, he completed 18 of 32 passes for 235 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. He also ran four times for 24 yards, a quiet reminder that his legs still matter.

The concern is the turnover total. Seven interceptions through six games is too many for a quarterback chasing MVP votes, and Chicago’s defense ranks among the league’s better units in EPA per play.

Caleb Williams by the Numbers

Williams just got back from missing three games due to a Grade 2 hamstring strain.  In his comeback against Atlanta, he completed 30 of 36 passes for 305 yards and a touchdown, and he added three rushing yards on four carries.

That 83 percent completion rate is the kind of efficiency Ben Johnson’s offense was built to produce. In the two games Williams has started and finished this year, Chicago scored 90 points combined.

The caution flag is stamina and sample size. One strong game after three weeks off is encouraging, but Thursday night on a short week tests a hamstring in a different way.

Quarterback Quick-Facts Table

The table shows two different quarterback stories. Maye brings a full body of work and a turnover problem. Williams brings efficiency and a question mark about workload.

Chicago’s Ground Game vs New England’s Front Seven

The Bears want to run the ball, and Swift is the engine. His 354 yards and four scores lead this matchup, and Chicago’s offense has leaned on that run game to control possession.

Something has to give because New England’s defense has been among the best in the league this year.The Patriots lead 12-3 in the regular season and 12-4 when Super Bowl XX is taken into account, based on my calculation of team-published records through 2018 as well as the matchups in 2022 and 2024.   The key number is what Swift does on first down, because a few positive runs let Johnson open up the play-action game.

Stevenson has a harder job for the Patriots. At roughly four yards a carry, he moves the chains without exploding, and Chicago ranks in the top ten in the league in defensive success rate.

The offensive line makes the difference. New England lost three starting linemen in Week 6, and run blocking suffers first when a line gets shuffled on a short week.

Pass Catchers: Odunze, Doubs and the Receivers Who Could Break the Game

Odunze has quietly become Williams’ most dependable target. His 273 yards on 17 catches show a receiver who turns short throws into real gains, and that fits the efficient style Williams showed last Sunday.

For the Patriots, Doubs is the headline name. He has 219 yards and two touchdowns, but his questionable tag clouds the picture.

Maye spread the ball around against the Jets, hitting DeMario Douglas on a nine-yard touchdown and Hunter Henry on a seven-yarder. That variety helps if Doubs can’t go.

Watch the tight end matchup too. Hunter Henry scored in Week 6, and Maye has shown he’ll trust him in the red zone.

Defensive Stats That Could Swing the Game

Defense is where the player stats get interesting, because both teams have a big question mark.

Chicago’s Pass Rush Without Montez Sweat

Sweat, the Bears’ top edge rusher, is suspended for this game for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing substances policy. He led the team with 10 sacks last season, and he becomes eligible to return Friday, October 23.

That leaves Austin Booker as the main pass-rush threat with his four sacks. Shemar Turner, a former second-round pick returning from a torn ACL, was activated from the PUP list, though the defensive coordinator warned against expecting a full workload from him.

Through five games, Chicago’s defense ranked tied for fifth in points allowed at 19.2 per game and ninth in both total yards and rushing yards. Those are strong numbers, and Sweat’s absence is the main reason to doubt them.

New England’s Defense Under Pressure

The Patriots enter with Ponder leading the way at 4.5 sacks and Spillane racking up tackles at the second level. They also produced two fourth-down stops against the Jets, which shows a defense that rises in tight moments.

Their challenge is rest. Three starting offensive linemen going down means the defense may spend extra time on the field if the offense stalls.

Injury Report: The Stats Behind the Stats

Injuries decide more NFL games than any scheme. Here is the Week 7 injury picture for both sides, courtesy of the Sports Illustrated report published Monday.

The Patriots’ list leans heavily toward the offense. Doubs is questionable, and Mike Onwenu and Greg Van Roten are already on IR, which is why the line is the biggest worry.

Chicago’s list is shorter and more spread out. Monangai matters for the run game, Edwards matters for the middle of the defense, and Stevenson matters in coverage.

Last Time They Met: Patriots 19, Bears 3 in 2024

Looking back helps put the stats in perspective. On November 10, 2024, New England beat Chicago 19-3 at Soldier Field, and the game belonged to the defense.

That game was ugly for both offenses. Williams was held to 120 passing yards, and the Patriots sacked him repeatedly, with Deatrich Wise Jr. leading the way with two. Both quarterbacks look like different players two years later.

The lesson is worth keeping. New England won by playing a low-event game, and Thursday’s 49.5-point total suggests oddsmakers expect more points this time.

All-Time Series History

New England holds a big lead in this series. By my count from team-published records through 2018 plus the 2022 and 2024 meetings, the Patriots lead 12-3 in the regular season and 12-4 when you include Super Bowl XX.

The Bears won that Super Bowl 46-10 in January 1986, which remains their largest margin of victory in the series. Their last regular-season win over New England came back in December 2000, based on the Windy City Gridiron series history.

History matters less than health on Thursday, but it adds spice. Ben Johnson and Mike Vrabel were also the two top candidates when the Bears job opened in 2025, so there’s a coaching storyline running underneath.

Betting Lines, Trends and What the Models Say

The market likes Chicago, but not by much. A 2.5-point spread with the Bears at -148 on the moneyline suggests a game that sits close to a toss-up with a small home-field tilt.

• Patriots against the spread: 3-2-1 this season
• Bears against the spread: 4-2, including 2-1 at home
• Bears with Williams starting: 2-1 against the spread
• Under trend: The under is 4-2 in the six games both teams have played in 2026

Sports Illustrated’s pick is the Bears on the moneyline, citing New England’s offensive line injuries on a short week. Football Nation’s projection lands at Bears 26, Patriots 23.

5 Matchups to Watch Before You Trust the Box Score

Player stats don’t exist in a vacuum. These five battles will decide whether the totals you see Friday morning favor Chicago or New England.

1. Patriots offensive line vs Bears pass rush. New England has lost three starters, and Chicago’s rush is thinner without Sweat. The weaker unit determines whether Maye has time.
2. Williams’ hamstring vs the clock. Thursday’s short week means less recovery. If he stays mobile, the Bears’ offense flows.
3. Swift vs Stevenson. The better rushing line usually controls tempo, and tempo controls possession time.
4. Maye’s turnovers. One or two interceptions would swing the game toward Chicago, because its defense ranks well in success rate.
5. Third-down efficiency. Both offenses are improving, so the team that converts more will own the fourth quarter.

Fantasy Football Angle: Which Players Are Worth Starting?

Maye enters the QB1 and high-end QB2 conversation after his three-touchdown Week 6. His matchup is tougher than his last one, though, and the line injuries add volatility.

Williams looks like a solid streaming option if he’s healthy. His 305-yard return game suggests the offense can produce for fantasy managers without relying on rushing yards.

Swift is a reasonable RB2 option because of his touchdown production and workload. Odunze is a WR2 with upside, and Doubs is a risky play until his status clears.

Final Verdict: What the Numbers Really Say

Here is my read after going through every table. The Patriots have the more proven quarterback and the better pass rush on paper. The Bears have the healthier roster, the stronger run game and the home crowd.

If you want an insider angle, watch the first two series. When Maye gets clean pockets early, New England’s offense looks like the group that dominated the Jets. If the line breaks down, Chicago can turn the game into a ground-and-pound win.

My lean is a close Bears win, with the final margin under a touchdown. That could change if Doubs or New England’s linemen get cleared on Wednesday.

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