Chicago is banged up too, mostly on defense, and the timing works in New England's favor. Montez Sweat got a 2-game PED suspension on October 13, and Dayo Odeyingbo went on injured reserve with a quad injury. That takes 2 of the Bears' edge rushers out of the rotation in the same week the Patriots line is held together with tape. Whether Sweat's suspension still covers Thursday depends on how the league counts Sunday's game, so treat that as unconfirmed until it's announced. Even so, the Bears may not have enough pass rush to make New England pay for its injuries.
Both teams have swung hard week to week, so neither 4-2 record says much. New England's run has a 45-17 win over the Raiders and a 29-26 win at Buffalo in it, but it also has a 35-6 loss at Jacksonville, the kind of game where the offense just doesn't show up. Chicago beat the Eagles 27-7, then lost 31-7 at Green Bay the next time it played a strong opponent. Add a 9-3 home loss to the Vikings and the Bears have been close to unwatchable when the offense stalls.
Sunday's win also left Chicago with something to fix. The Bears were up 31-7 in the 4th quarter, then gave up 16 unanswered points before Williams put together a clock-killing drive to close it out. Atlanta's comeback came against a defense that had LBs T.J. Edwards and Keyshaun Elliott inactive and CB Tyrique Stevenson Sr. out with a hip injury. Kyler Gordon's return in the slot helped. The middle of that defense is still thin, and Maye is good at finding open receivers there.
Kickoff is 7:15 PM CT Thursday, October 22, and the early forecast is about as calm as Chicago gets in late October: low 60s, cloudy, light wind, no rain. That leaves the 2 injury reports as the story of the week. The Patriots need to find out how many of their linemen can play, and the Bears need to find out whether Williams' hamstring handles a second game in 5 days. Both 4-2 teams will be trying to stay with the top of the conference.