Week 7 Thursday Night Football: Patriots at Bears

Caleb Williams played all 77 Bears snaps last week and completed 30 of 36 passes for 305 yards. Thursday night belongs in your lineup.

New England visits Chicago on Thursday, October 22, with kickoff at 8:15 p.m. ET and 7:15 p.m. CT. (NFL, CBS Sports)

Chicago

Start him.

D’Andre Swift: Start. Roschon Johnson: Flex. Kyle Monangai is out, leaving the same two-man backfield Chicago used last week. Swift handled 16 carries and five targets, finishing with 20 touches, 70 yards, and two touchdowns. Johnson added 15 touches, 85 yards, and a score.

Rome Odunze: Start. Four targets last week were annoying. His role wasn’t. Odunze played 74 of 77 snaps and ran a route on 97.6 percent of dropbacks. Players who live on the field stay in fantasy lineups, because targets follow routes more reliably than Thursday-night panic follows common sense.

Colston Loveland: Start. Loveland played 88 percent of the snaps, ran a route on 80.5 percent of dropbacks, and caught six of seven targets for 65 yards and a touchdown. No committee meeting required.

Luther Burden: Sit. Burden caught all eight of his Week 6 targets for 95 yards, which looks lovely until his 39 percent snap share and season-low 43.9 percent route rate walk into the room. A part-time route role stays on the bench.

New England

Drake Maye: Start. Maye played all 68 snaps last week and carries no injury designation. He’s in.

DeMario Douglas: Start in the flex. Douglas caught seven of eight targets for 86 yards and a touchdown in Week 6. With Romeo Doubs on injured reserve, Douglas has earned the spot rather than borrowing it.

Hunter Henry: Start. Henry turned five targets into four catches, 48 yards, and a touchdown last week while running a route on 71.4 percent of dropbacks. Henry belongs in the lineup.

Rhamondre Stevenson: Flex only. TreVeyon Henderson and Corey Kiner: Sit. Stevenson led the backfield with a 60 percent snap share and kept the passing-down work, but his 14 touches produced 36 yards. Kiner closed the game with 11 carries for 57 yards, though that came on an 18 percent snap share.

Stevenson is the only Patriots back with a playable role, and even he’s a low-end flex. Henderson and Kiner are bets on a rotation that hasn’t settled. That’s a lousy way to spend Thursday night.

ZeroChalk is not affiliated with the NFL, NFL teams, or the NFLPA. Injury and role calls are best-guess reads from public practice and camp reporting, not inside information.