The Chicago Bears had to quickly turn the page (perhaps too quickly) from Sunday’s win over the Atlanta Falcons because the team has a quick turnaround with its next game coming up on Thursday night against the reigning AFC champs in the New England Patriots.

It’s the second primetime game of the season for the Bears, and another one at Soldier Field. The team will need the crowd factor to show up in this game because the defense is going to have a tough challenge against quarterback Drake Maye.

After a slow start to the season, Maye is rounding back out into MVP-caliber play with 878 yards, 10 touchdowns and one interception in his last three games. He’s heating up at the right time and the Bears can’t afford to have another step back defensively.

Dennis Allen previews the challenge Drake Maye brings going into Thursday’s game

Chicago’s defense had a strong bounce back performance on Sunday against Michael Penix Jr. and Bijan Robinson and they certainly needed it after getting picked apart by Jordan Love the week before. We still don’t much about this defense right now with how inconsistent they’ve been week-to-week, but Sunday’s game was a step in the right direction against a really dangerous offense.

The Bears can’t take a step back on Thursday against Maye, and he presents a similar challenge that the Bears struggled with back in Week 5. Through the first six weeks, Maye ranks second in the NFL with 439 passing yards on throws of 20+ air yards, and only Jordan Love has more. Maye’s four passing touchdowns on such throws is tied for the most in the NFL.

“When I watch the tape, I still see a lot of really good things. I tend to look at the positive things that the other team does and the things that can really hurt you,” Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen explained. “They do an excellent job of throwing the ball down the field. They’ve got some speed at the receiver position. They take their shots.”

While the Patriots tend to take their shots down the field, there’s also some risk/reward when they do it. Maye is also tied for the most interceptions (3) on deep passes. So, it’s an area the Bears need to be prepared to see a lot of and prepared to capitalize on.

Love absolutely torched Chicago’s defense on deep passes with pinpoint accuracy. However, New England doesn’t have the speed that Green Bay does on the outside, but they still have major deep threats in A.J. Brown and Demario Douglas. The good news is that the Patriots will be without their leading receiver in Romeo Doubs.

Drake Maye has other ways to hurt a defense, and he might have to lean into it

It’s not just the deep passing game that the Bears have to be worried about when it comes to defending Drake Maye. He’s also a very efficient scrambler and runner when he takes off, and it could be something he leans into this week with multiple offensive linemen banged up.

“I think Drake Maye’s one of those guys that does an outstanding job with his feet,” Allen added. “There’s been times where you watch it and there’s pressure on the quarterback and he makes people miss and creates some plays down the field. I see him doing a lot of good things. I see especially his athleticism showing up and his ability to throw the ball down the field has been exceptional.”

The Bears haven’t had to deal with any scrambling quarterbacks yet this season, so but Allen’s unit struggled at times with it last season when Chicago allowed the second-most rushing yards from a quarterback (404), with three quarterbacks rushing for 50+ yards, according to Sports Info Solutions.

Maye has averaged 6.0+ rushing yards per attempt in three games this season, so he’s just as dangerous with his legs as he is with his arm.

Developing the proper plan in a short week

The task of creating a proper plan of attack for a quarterback like Maye is even more difficult in a short week with the Bears and Patriots set to face off on Thursday.

“It’s challenging. It’s really challenging because when you play good teams in this league, it’s hard to just say we’re going to play training camp 101 and think that you’re going to go out there and be really successful,” Allen explained. “You have to come up with a plan that the guys can go out there and execute. But the biggest thing that our guys have to understand is we have certain rules with which we operate defensively. ‘These are the things that we do based on what the offense shows us.’ I always look at (short weeks) as kind of rules games because you don’t really know what the offense is necessarily going to do. It’s really hard to put in a lot of crazy stuff. So, you try to have some things that maybe the opponent hasn’t seen and kind of go from there.”

Trying things the opponent hasn’t seen worked last week against the Falcons with the Bears using different personnel due to all the injuries, and having a key player in Kyler Gordon back in action. But, the Patriots now have a full game of tape on those players so they won’t be caught off guard like the Falcons were.

Allen will need to have a sound game plan for this one because this unit can’t afford to let Maye take over this game. If they limit the explosives in the passing game and keep Maye in the pocket, the Bears will have the advantage, especially once the crowd comes alive.