Did the New England Patriots finally come of age in Sunday’s impressive win over the Chicago Bears?

Or did they mainly take advantage of a struggling, poorly coached team with a ravaged offensive line?

We say a little of both. But wow, nine sacks? One by special teamer Brendan Schooler? Rookie QB Drake Maye comes of immediate age and addresses the offense late in the week? The defense holding the Bears to 142 total yards?

This was not what anyone expected from these Patriots. But maybe they’re finally getting it.

“I feel like we had all those sacks because our Dbs locking people up and forcing Caleb to be a pocket passer,” Patriots defensive end Keion White said.

“I’ve been saying it all year, we are a young defense forced into a lot of starting positions. What you guys are seeing is us figuring it out and I feel like we ar a more cohesive unit week to week. The trajectory is on the right path.”

Wow, we guess so. Of course, we might want to add the Bears are missing three offensive linemen, but nobody’s going to cry for them like no one is going to cry for the Patriots line woes. But New England made those go away in some form because they did what they need to do to be successful: Run the football and be physical.

“Offensivelywe wer able to really deliver those body blows that we talked about and really staying ahead of the sticks,” Patriots coach Jerod Mayo said.

So here’s the biggest thing about Sunday: You’d take Mayo over Bears coach Matt Eberflus, and doesn’t it look like third pick Maye is well ahead of top pick Caleb Williams?

Yes is sure does. Both counts are correct.

“We’ve got to take a good, hard look at everything that we’re doing,” Eberflus said, “and play good, complimentary football.”

Save it, Matt. You’re dead coach walking, as Da Bears will certainly look for an offensive mind to bring in as their new head coach next year and coach up the kid.

But that’s Da Bears problem. The Patriots, of course, need to do something they haven’t done all year – win two straight.

Maye didn’t light Soldier Field up, but he was certainly workmanlike. But the eye raiser was he had addresed the offense late in the week, ticked off about bad practices.

“Drake has addresed the offense numerous times,” Mayo said. “I think it goes back to now he’s starting to really take control of the offense and the team. When yougo out there and you perform at a high level, that’s the first step. The next step is to bring others with ou, and I think he’s on his way to doing that.”

“I think just taking that next step is me being the quarterback in the offensive meeting room,” said Maye, who led a cheer for defense when he began his postgame press conference.

But make no mistake, the Patriots became the Monsters of the Midway, not the Bears. They out-Beared the Bears.

“It starts up front,” Mayo said. “It starts up front. I think that’s what we have to do. We have to go out there and reestablish the line of scrimmage and we were able to do that in all three-and-outs.’

Which was pretty much most of the game. Wow.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph_TomK.