Tom Brady threw five touchdown passes and Brandon LaFell had a career high 11 catches as the New England Patriots hammered the Chicago Bears 51-23.
Brady, who was 30-of-35 for 354 passing yards, tossed touchdown strikes on five of the Patriots’ first half dozen drives in one of 13 National Football League games.
Ben Roethlisberger also carved up the Indianapolis Colts’ defence for 522 yards and six touchdowns in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 51-34 victory.
Roethlisberger completed 40-of-49 passes to nine different receivers and matched Boomer Esiason for the fourth-most passing yards in a single game in league history.
Rob Gronkowski, who had to leave the game in the third quarter because of dehydration, had 149 yards on nine receptions and caught three of Brady’s touchdown passes in the Patriots’ win.
LaFell set career-highs for receptions and 124 receiving yards and had a touchdown catch for New England, who improved to 6-2 on the season.
The Patriots won their fourth consecutive game and extended a home win streak to 13 games.
“It was good to see the whole team ready to go, playing with that kind of energy and execution,” said New England coach Bill Belichick. “It was a pretty good day for us out there today. We’ll have to turn this one around quickly and get ready for Denver next week.”
The Patriots scored three touchdowns in a 57-second span during a 31-point second quarter.
Bears quarterback Jay Cutler completed 20-of-30 passes for 227 yards with three touchdowns. Cutler also had a pair of turnovers.
Matt Forte had 114 yards on 19 carries and caught a touchdown pass for the Bears, who lost for the fourth time in five games.
Bears coach Marc Trestman said they will be doing a lot of soul searching.
– ‘Address every situation’ –
“We lost today. We got beat by a really good football team,” said Trestman of the Bears, who dropped to 3-5.
“We have a whole half a season to play and we are going to go back tomorrow and start over and address every situation that we have and all aspects of our football team” he said.
Meanwhile the Bears’ defensive end Lamarr Houston suffered an injury while celebrating a sack on Jimmy Garoppolo while his team was trailing by 35 points.
Houston leapt in the air after sacking the rookie backup quarterback for an 11-yard loss in the fourth quarter. After landing he grabbed at his right knee and went to the ground.
Chicago trailed 48-23 with a little over three minutes remaining at the time of the sack.
Brady and the Patriots must now get ready to face Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos at home next Sunday.
Roethlisberger finished just 32 yards short of Norm Van Brocklin’s NFL record of 554, which was set in 1951. He also set the Steelers franchise mark for passing yards and touchdowns.
Roethlisberger’s favourite receiver was Antonio Brown, who finished with 10 catches for 133 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Heath Miller had seven grabs for 112 and a touchdown, Martavis Bryant totalled 83 yards and two touchdowns and Markus Wheaton posted the first touchdown of his career.
Le’Veon Bell rushed 148 yards for the Steelers, who have won three of their last four games.
Roethlisberger’s career day overshadowed Andrew Luck’s second career 400-yard passing game. Luck completed 26-of-45 for 400 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.
In Charlotte, quarterback Russell Wilson rallied his team to a come-from-behind road win, firing a touchdown pass to Luke Willson with 47 seconds remaining to lift defending Super Bowl champs Seattle to a 13-9 victory over Carolina.
The Detroit Lions came from behind to beat the Atlanta Falcons 22-21 in London, England while New Orleans routed Green Bay 44-23.