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Patriots 51, Bears 23
FOXBOROUGH, Ma. — Tom Brady, making his 100th regular season start at home, threw five touchdown passes and the New England Patriots rolled to their fourth straight victory, a 51-23 shellacking of the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
Brady went 30 of 35 for 354 yards in another brilliant performance, improved to 87-13 as a home starter. It was the third five-touchdown game of his career and he holds the club record with a pair of six-touchdown passes.
Three of Sunday’s touchdown passes went to tight end Rob Gronkowski, who left the game after a 46-yard touchdown catch and run early in the third quarter with dehydration.
Brady is 100 of 144 for 1,268 yards, 14 touchdowns and no interceptions during New England’s winning streak with the Patriots (6-2) averaging almost 40 points per game during the run.
New England wide receiver Brandon LaFell had a career-high 11 catches for a career-best 124 yards and a touchdown, while Gronkowski finished with nine catches for 149 yards and fellow tight end Tim Wright had seven catches and a touchdown.
Chicago fell to 3-5 with running back Jonas Gray, in his second game since being added to the roster from the practice squad, running for 86 yards in his first start.
It was Brady’s 61st 300-yard passing game and he has 48 career touchdown passes to Gronkowski, second on the NFL’s all-time quarterback-to-tight end touchdown list.
Bears quarterback Jay Cutler threw three touchdown passes and running back Matt Forte ran up 158 yards and a touchdown.
Cutler finished 20 of 30 for 227 yards and an interception
Bear wide receiver Brandon Marshall, guarded by cornerback Darrell Revis, had just two catches and Revis an interception.
The Patriots scored all five times they had the ball — and one time they didn’t — in the first half, including one possession where they failed to score a touchdown after having first-and-goal on the one, instead settling for a short field goal.
Down 17-0, the Bears quickly went 77 yards to get on the board. Cutler hit Forte for 18 yards to start the drive, Forte ran for 19 and the drive was capped with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Forte.
But Brady came right back, taking the ball at his own 20 and using three completions to Gronkowski and a 17-yard run by Gray to get down to the 5. On second and goal from the 2, Brady hit Gronkowski for the score.
The Bears then punted and Julian Edelman’s 42-yard return and a Chicago penalty put the ball at the Chicago 9. On the first play, Brady hit LaFell for the score with 1:07 left. Cutler fumbled on a first-play sack and defensive end Rob Ninkovich picked it up and ran 15 yards for the score with 55 seconds left in the half.
NOTES: It was the 17th game of New England QB Tom Brady’s career with four-plus touchdown passes and no interceptions, tying New Orleans QB Drew Brees for the all-time record. … DE Chandler Jones, who missed the game for New England, is expected to be out four to six weeks with a hip injury, with local estimates ranging from four weeks to the rest of the season. … LBs Lance Briggs (ribs) and Jon Bostic (back) were inactive for the Bears. … LB Akeem Ayers, acquired last week from the Tennessee Titans, made his Patriots debut. … Rookie CB Kyle Fuller, who suffered hand and hip injuries in the previous game against the Miami Dolphins, started for the Bears but left early. … Injured New England OT Cameron Fleming ran sprints hours before the game but was still out. … CB Alfonzo Dennard was a healthy inactive for New England. … B Shane Vereen, bothered by illness last week, played against his brother, Bears S Shane Vereen.
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