Episode list

For Week Eleven of the 2006 NFL Season the Chicago Bears, holding a 9-1 record, traveled to Foxboro, MA to face the 7-3 New England Patriots. Only the eleventh career meeting between the two clubs, it nonetheless held important significance because of both teams' quest for playoff spots and also the bitter enmity between them stemming from Chicago's 46-10 embarrassment of the Patriots in Superbowl XX. The game was the first in Gillette Stadium held on new Fieldturf, strong high-quality artificial grass that replaced a natural grass field that had deteriorated to unplayable condition weeks before and contributed to a 2-3 home record for the Patriots. Both teams sported the most aggressive and physical defenses in the league but also had questions about their offenses - the Patriots were under fire from outside analysts over their receiver corps and the Bears harbored doubts about young quarterback Rex Grossman. The game itself quickly became a hard-hitting battle of turnovers in which four consecutive scoring opportunities in the first half were lost due to fumbles, a blocked Bears field goal, and two Tom Brady passes tipped into interceptions. The game was also marked by a series of pass-interference calls, and in the final two minutes the Patriots held a slim 17-13 lead but lost the ball on a Corey Dillon fumble and thus gave Chicago one last chance to steal the win.