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Bad vibe: Patriots hot, Bears not

There was a glimmer of hope when the New England Patriots stumbled to a 2-2 start and nine-time Pro Bowler Tom Brady looked like just another aging quarterback.

Maybe there was a chance that the Patriots' and Brady's 13-year run of excellence was coming to an end. Through four games the offense was averaging 20 points a game and the 37-year-old Brady was good but nothing special.

But all that changed during the Pats' three-game winning streak, when they have averaged 36 points per game and Brady has tossed 9 touchdown passes without an interception and thrown for 914 yards.

"He's just a Hall of Fame quarterback, and he does everything right all the time," Bears defensive coordinator Mel Tucker said. "He's very precise in everything he does. He has command of the huddle. They have a nice tempo to everything they do.

"There's not really a look that you can give him that he hasn't seen before a million times. They just do an overall great job and he's their No. 1 competitor."

What's even worse for the 3-4 Bears, who are in danger of tumbling further down the list of playoff contenders, is that Sunday's game will be played at Foxboro's Gillette Stadium. The Patriots are 24-1 at home in October since 2003.

Brady's career record at home is 98-16, an .860 winning percentage, the best of any quarterback since the 1970 merger. The only one close to Brady is Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw at .843.

That likely trumps the Bears' 3-1 road record this year, as does Brady's 3-0 lifetime record against the Bears, which includes 964 passing yards.

"He gets the ball out of his hands very fast," Bears coach Marc Trestman said. "They've got people moving in different kinds of routes, option routes and things like that that are attached to what kind of coverages (opponents) are playing.

"He's able to do that very well. He's been doing it for a long time with the same people, same coaching. That's really helped him."

When Brady doesn't get rid of the ball in rhythm he's susceptible to a good pass rush, having been sacked 13 times this season. Elusiveness is not among Brady's many skills. Breaking that rhythm is the key to disrupting his precision passing game, according to Bears defensive end Jared Allen.

"They're so well balanced that - as good as Tom is, watching film - they don't ask him to do everything," Allen said. "They have a solid run game. Their intermediate pass game is on point, and obviously he's very capable of putting the team on his shoulders and bringing them back, and you've seen him do it plenty of times.

"He's at his best when he's in second-and-medium, throwing check-downs to intermediate (targets). If they've got a good running game, how do you defend him? He's going to throw the ball on time, accurately to the right person."

Stopping the Patriots' run game obviously is the best way to get after Brady, and Bill Belichick's team has struggled to run the ball consistently this year. They're 20th in rushing yards and 26th in average gain per run.

The Bears rank in the middle of the league in run defense. But before allowing 137 yards on the ground last week against Miami, they had permitted their previous three opponents an average of only 63 rushing yards per game.

"We have to find a way to get them into some third-down situations where we can dictate pressure to (Brady), get him off his spot and force him to pat the ball and try to create a little havoc," Allen said. "We can't allow him to sit back there and be rhythmic."

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