PLAYER NOTES
–T Marcus Cannon suffered a concussion Sunday night and did not practice Wednesday. LaAdrian Waddle will replace Cannon if he is unable to play. Waddle replaced Cannon Sunday night.
–WR Chris Hogan redeemed himself last week with a big 42-yard catch in the second half. With TE Rob Gronkowski, WR Julian Edelman, RB James White and WR Josh Gordon, Hogan will receive some single coverage and the Patriot need him to take advantage of those opportunities.
–RB James White, with five catches for 53 yards Sunday, now has 37 catches on the season for 323 yards.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: LB Dont’a Hightower’s performance has been improving and his play against the Kansas City Chiefs was the best of the season. He had an interception that led to a Patriots touchdown. The Patriots are thin at linebacker with only Hightower, Kyle Van Noy, Elandon Roberts and John Simon capable of playing the position at the moment.
GAME PLAN: Offensively, the strategy is to stop the Bears’ pass rushers in Khalil Mack and Akiem Hicks who played for the Patriots in 2015. The Bears two best players in the secondary are Eddie Jackson and Adrian Amos – both play-makers who could slow down the Patriots offense. The players are interchangeable – something head coach Bill Belichick acknowledged Wednesday.
Defensively, it is hard to predict what to expect from Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky who is inconsistent. But Trubisky has two good weapons to throw to in Taylor Gabriel and Allen Robinson. Cornerback Stephon Gilmore can take away Robinson, while the Patriots will hope and pray their secondary can limit the speedster Gabriel so he does not beat them for three touchdowns like Tyreek Hill did last week. The Patriots also must play good run defense with the versatility of Bears running backs Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen.
QUOTES ON GAME: Head coach Bill Belichick on comparing Lawrence Taylor (who he coached as defensive coordinator with the New York Giants) to Khalil Mack: “Now, wait a minute. We’re talking about Lawrence Taylor now. Yeah, I’m not putting anybody in Lawrence Taylor’s class. So, you can put everybody down below that. With a lot of respect to a lot of good players now, but we’re talking about Lawrence Taylor.”
MATCHUPS TO WATCH
–Patriots RT LaAdrian Waddle vs. Bears OLB Khalil Mack. Mack is the type of player who could cause havoc and prevent Tom Brady from finding the open receiver.
–Patriots WR Julian Edelman vs. Bears CB Kyle Fuller. The Patriots will need a big day from their receiver who has played well since coming back from suspension in Week 5.