The Patriots are becoming Drake Maye’s team: Inside the meeting that led to a huge win

CHICAGO — The New England Patriots’ first practice of the week, the one where they install the game plan for the coming opponent, went terribly. It was Wednesday, four days before a matchup here against the Bears, and the Patriots couldn’t do anything right offensively.

Quarterback Drake Maye fumbled a snap. The offensive line bungled a protection it had been discussing. Penalties slowed things down.

“We had some mental errors,” Maye said.

Afterward, Maye fumed. He weighed what to do. He has only been the team’s starting quarterback for a month and is only 22 years old. But at the same time, he is the quarterback, and there’s a gravitas that comes with that position in this game.

Since taking over as the starting quarterback of this franchise, Maye has reached out to more teammates individually. He’s taken to texting them various cut-ups from practice at night, either plays where he’s looking for them to do something differently or to applaud something they’d done.

“Then you feel like, ‘I know Drake, and he cares about me.’ That’s how I’m approaching it,” Maye said Sunday.

But then Wednesday’s lousy practice happened, and he felt something bigger was needed. So Maye asked offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt if he could speak to the whole unit, and Van Pelt greenlit the idea.

The speech that followed and Maye’s play in a 19-3 road win over the Bears, one that was easily the team’s best all-around performance of the season, helped solidify something that’s becoming obvious: The Patriots, now 3-7, are becoming Maye’s team.

That might sound like — and even might be — a small thing. But it’s an important one for a franchise needing an identity post-Bill Belichick and for a fan base and team needing optimism after entering this game with only six wins in its last 27 games.

Maye’s numbers Sunday were pedestrian (15-of-25 passing for 185 yards, one touchdown and one interception), but the rookie quarterback has brought excitement and given fans a reason to follow this team in the early days of its rebuild.

Furthermore, Maye seems to have earned this leadership role, which is especially noteworthy in contrast to Caleb Williams and the Bears offense, which has struggled mightily in recent weeks after handing the No. 1 pick the reins this offseason. Whereas the Bears now seem destined for more change and questions about whether they’ll squander another highly drafted quarterback, Maye came into a far less enviable situation roster-wise and has displayed growth and improvement while acknowledging things are far from perfect.

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Maye’s setup was vastly different from that of Williams or No. 2 pick Jayden Daniels. The Patriots didn’t want him to start early on, and even though Maye outplayed Jacoby Brissett in the preseason and training camp, they left Maye on the bench to start the season.

It put the rookie in a bit of a weird spot. Everyone knew he was the quarterback of the future, drafted with the third pick. But he was a backup and had to try to toe that line of playing a secondary role while knowing the weight of a rebuild would eventually sit on his shoulders.

It was a similar tightrope walk when he became the starter. How do you assert your leadership style and go in a different direction without coming off like you’re discounting what Brissett did? How can a 22-year-old fresh out of college command the respect of 30-year-olds with families at home?

There was a natural feeling-out process. Maye started with those texts to teammates while he watched video of practices in his apartment near Gillette Stadium.

Then Wednesday happened. A bad practice in a long, frustrating season.

So Maye wanted to say something. He stood in front of the team in one of its auditorium meeting rooms. He told his teammates what they’d done wasn’t good enough. Their standard was higher, their goals loftier.

“Everybody loved it, man,” said rookie receiver Ja’Lynn Polk, who took a step in the right direction Sunday with a 2-yard touchdown reception. “We need that from our starting quarterback.”

Drake Maye to Ja’Lynn Polk for the rookie to rookie TD connection #NEPats

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To be clear, no one painted this as some Herb Brooks-style “Miracle on Ice” speech. Maye is the youngest guy on the team. It’s nerve-wracking to talk in front of your peers. There were surely some pauses and mumbles. His heart was likely pounding. But what was more important than the actual message was what that message meant, the young quarterback taking charge of the franchise.

“I don’t know how he did it. I couldn’t do that,” receiver Demario Douglas said with a laugh. “As a quarterback, I guess he should be able to. But if it were me, I’d get nervous and start sweating.”

Maybe even more important than the message or what it meant was that the team responded. Douglas said the subsequent practices were some of their best of the season. Then the game arrived, and the Patriots put together their best performance of the year, even if it came against a Bears team that’s clearly reeling.

No, Maye wasn’t perfect on this day. There will still be learning moments and rookie mistakes, like his first-quarter interception. But there will also be impressive moments to build on, like his 24-yard strike to Austin Hooper, the way he orchestrated the Patriots’ end-of-half scoring drive and the way he moved through the pocket, a stark contrast to Williams, who was sacked nine times by a resurgent New England defense. There were positive moments, even if his stat line isn’t going to wow most observers.

The Patriots are still very early in this rebuild. In many ways, they’re still getting to know Maye and are eager to give him a light-hearted hard time.

“His accent is a little strong and I can’t understand some words, but he’s a good speaker,” Michigan native Mike Onwenu joked about Maye’s North Carolina drawl.

This Patriots season has felt at times like a lost one, a necessary grind before the promise of better days when free agency and draft picks add talent to a roster in need of it.

But there are little moments along the way that plant the seeds of the longer-term success the Patriots are hoping for. This week yielded another when their quarterback stood before them and called out the group, and they all backed it up with their best game yet, offering a simple truth about where they’re headed.

The Patriots are becoming Maye’s team.

(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)