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          New England Patriots

          Patriots-Bears through a stats-based lens

          • Mike Reiss, ESPN Staff WriterOct 23, 2014, 05:00 AM ET
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              Mike Reiss is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the New England Patriots. Reiss has covered the Patriots since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2009. In 2019, he was named Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. You can follow Reiss on Twitter at @MikeReiss.
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          FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- A look at the New England Patriots-Chicago Bears matchup through a stats-based lens (via ESPN's Stats and Information):

          1. Brady's 100th career start at home. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady makes his 100th career regular-season start at home on Sunday and is 86-13 in Foxborough. According to Elias Sports Bureau, no quarterback who debuted in the Super Bowl era has a higher home winning percentage (minimum 40 starts, all regular season).

          • Tom Brady -- 86-13 (.869)

          • Terry Bradshaw -- 67-12 (.848)

          • Roger Staubach -- 49-10 (.831)

          • Joe Flacco -- 42-10 (.808)

          • John Elway -- 95-23 (.805)

          2. Brady's three-game turnaround. The Patriots have won their last three games and Brady's improvement over that span is hard to miss.

          Completion percentage

          First 4 games: 59.1 percent

          Last 3 games: 64.2 percent

          Yards per attempt

          First 4 games: 5.8

          Last 3 games: 8.4

          Touchdowns

          First 4 games: 4

          Last 3 games: 9

          Interceptions

          First 4 games: 2

          Last 3 games: 0

          Total QBR

          First 4 games: 46.5

          Last 3 games: 87.1

          3. Downfield passing game on the rise. In the first four games of the season, Brady was 7-of-32 on passes thrown at least 15 yards down the field. Since then, he has gone 17-of-25, completing at least five attempts in each game, with five touchdowns and no interceptions. Meanwhile, Bears quarterback Jay Cutler has struggled in the deep passing game, with a 31.3 completion percentage on throws 15 yards or more down the field. Only Miami's Ryan Tannehill (21.6) and the Jets' Geno Smith (28.1) are worse.

          4. Third straight game without a Gronkowski spike. Tight end Rob Gronkowski hasn’t scored a touchdown in his last two games (one was called back due to penalty), but if the past is any indication, he'll be back in the end zone on Sunday. Gronkowski hasn’t gone three straight games without a score since 2011 (Weeks 4-8, 4 games total).

          5. Bears tough on the road. With a 3-1 road record, the Bears are one of just two NFL teams to record three road victories through the first seven weeks of the season. The Cowboys are the other team.

          6. Turnovers the key. The Bears are 3-0 this season when they’ve won the turnovers battle and 0-4 when they’ve lost it. The Bears have committed one turnover and forced eight in their three wins, and have committed 12 while forcing four in their four losses. As for the Patriots, Brady noted Wednesday that the team is 5-0 this season in games in which it hasn't committed a turnover.

          7. Forte on record pace. Bears running back Matt Forte leads the NFL in receptions (52). No running back has ever had as many receptions through his team’s first seven games.