The Aporia · Stevenson gives the Patriots a momentary lift with a 48-yard TD reception on final play of 1st half

Stevenson gives the Patriots a momentary lift with a 48-yard TD reception on final play of 1st half

Read the original at Toronto Star ↗

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APA MLA Chicago

Cohen, J. (2026, October 23). Stevenson gives the Patriots a momentary lift with a 48-yard TD reception on final play of 1st half. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/sports/football/stevenson-gives-the-patriots-a-momentary-lift-with-a-48-yard-td-reception-on-final-play-of-1st-half/article_6dfa3c33-bfe4-541a-ba76-bb43074baf7c.html

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Quick Summary

Rhamondre Stevenson scored a 48-yard touchdown reception for the New England Patriots on the final play of the first half against the Chicago Bears in an NFL game on Thursday night. This play briefly increased New England’s chances from 10.2% to 24.5%, but the Bears ultimately won the game 30-24. Stevenson had a total of 93 yards on five receptions and highlighted the team's brief moment of hope before Chicago extended their lead in the second half.

Written by AI on 2026-10-23, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

In a stunning turn of events on Thursday Night Football, the New England Patriots scored an improbable 48-yard touchdown just as the first half ended against the Chicago Bears in their Week 7 matchup at Soldier Field. With only one second left, quarterback Drake Maye threw a short pass to running back Rhamondre Stevenson, who then outran defenders for an uncontested score that cut the Patriots' halftime deficit to six points.

The play began when the Bears had taken a commanding 20-7 lead and were about to kick off. New England used their final timeout with three seconds left, and on the ensuing play Maye threw what seemed like a routine screen pass. Stevenson caught it near midfield and evaded several defenders before scoring untouched as time expired.

Bears rookie cornerback Malik Muhammad was notably absent from tackling Stevenson during this sequence, turning to run away instead as Stevenson approached him. This play shifted momentum for the Patriots but ultimately wasn't enough, with Chicago winning 30-24 in a game filled with wild moments and dramatic finishes.

Written for “Thursday Night Football Patriots Vs Bears” on 2026-11-03, grounded in this article and the 5 other(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

2 of 24 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

not political

takes no side on a contested political question

Publisher signals

64/100

Toronto Star's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Sports

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-10-23 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Running correction rate · 28 correction(s)

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Who wrote this

Jay Cohen

39 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

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2026-10-30 · assertive framing · Acquiring Jeffery Simmons like 'Christmas morning' for the Chicago Bears

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2026-10-29 · assertive framing · Chicago Bears acquire DT Jeffery Simmons in pricey trade with the Tennessee Titans

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2026-10-25 · assertive framing · Young scores 25 points as the Wizards hold off Wilson and the Bulls for a 124-120 win

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2026-10-24 · assertive framing · Cole Kmet sidelined by season-ending knee injury, testing tight end depth for the Chicago Bears

🔮 Kyle Williams returned the ensuing kickoff 25 yards to the New England 34.

2026-10-23 · assertive framing · Stevenson gives the Patriots a momentary lift with a 48-yard TD reception on final play of 1st half

🔮 CHICAGO (AP) — Caleb Williams threw for 308 yards and two touchdowns, and the Chicago Bears cooled off Drake Maye and the New England Patriots with a 30-24 win on Thursday night.

2026-10-23 · assertive framing · Caleb Williams throws 2 TD passes as the Bears beat Drake Maye and the Patriots 30-24

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2026-10-20 · assertive framing · Polymarket halts bets on fate of Cornell students accused of gang rape

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2026-10-10 · assertive framing · Christian Yelich and the Brewers looking to get past Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers in NLCS sequel

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2026-10-08 · assertive framing · NFL goes against federal government and asks Supreme Court to rule on prediction markets

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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 39 articles by Jay Cohen →

Topics

Bears CHICAGO New England New England’s Patriots

Subjects

Stevenson PERSON · 9× Patriots ORG · 5× Bears ORG · 4× CHICAGO GPE · 4× New England ORG · 3× New England’s ORG · 2× Kyle Williams PERSON · 1× Luther Burden’s PERSON · 1× Rhamondre Stevenson PERSON · 1× the Chicago Bears ORG · 1×

Narrative

Stevenson ran away from Lewis and got a downfield block from DeMario Douglas before cutting past Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson on his way to the end zone.

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-23

🔮 Kyle Williams returned the ensuing kickoff 25 yards to the New England 34.

2026-10-23 · Toronto Star

Stevenson gives the Patriots a momentary lift with a 48-yard TD reception on final play of 1st half · assertive framing

Claims (24 extracted, 2 hedged)

Then the right call at the right time provided a momentary lift for the Patriots. asserted

call → provide → Patriots

Stevenson scored an unlikely touchdown on the final play of the first half Thursday night against the Chicago Bears. asserted

Stevenson → score → Bears

Stevenson’s fifth career TD reception trimmed New England’s deficit to 20-14 at the break, but the Bears held off the Patriots for a 30-24 victory. asserted

Bears → trim → victory

“We’ve been working on that play for a long time and came in handy today, executed on that play,” Stevenson said. asserted

Stevenson → work → play

Chicago opened a 13-point lead when it scored on Luther Burden’s 24-yard reception with 14 seconds left in the opening half. asserted

it → open → half

Kyle Williams returned the ensuing kickoff 25 yards to the New England 34. asserted

Williams → return → 34

Drake Maye then fired an 18-yard pass to A.J. Brown, and the Patriots (4-3) used their second timeout with 3 seconds to go. asserted

Patriots → fire → seconds

On the next play, Stevenson slipped out of the backfield and Maye lobbed the ball over the head of Bears safety Cam Lewis. asserted

Maye → slip → Lewis

Stevenson ran away from Lewis and got a downfield block from DeMario Douglas before cutting past Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson on his way to the end zone. asserted

Stevenson → run → zone

“I feel like it brought us some momentum, but obviously not enough,” Stevenson said. asserted

Stevenson → feel → momentum

“We didn’t come out with the win.” Stevenson’s 48-yard reception moved New England’s win probability from 10.2% to 24.5%, according to Next Gen Stats. uncertain

reception → come → Stats

The running back covered a total distance of 68.18 yards on the play, and he had a 4.3% chance of scoring. asserted

he → cover → scoring

“I think we could have rallied to the ball there and gotten him down,” Chicago coach Ben Johnson said. uncertain

Johnson → think → him

Stevenson finished with 93 yards on five receptions. asserted

Stevenson → finish → receptions

But he had just 22 yards on six carries. asserted

he → have → carries

The Patriots rushed for 70 yards on 17 attempts. asserted

Patriots → rush → attempts

Any momentum that Stevenson generated for New England with his touchdown was erased by Chicago’s opening possession of the second half. asserted

Stevenson → generate → half

The Bears (5-2) finished a nine-play, 72-yard drive with Caleb Williams’ 12-yard touchdown pass to Colston Loveland. asserted

Bears → finish → Loveland

“We didn’t run the ball well enough,” Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said. asserted

Vrabel → run → ball

“But we moved it however we needed to move it and sometimes you are going to have days like that. asserted

you → move → that

I thought we’d be able to run it a little better. asserted

we → think → it

We didn’t, but then our best players were putting the ball in good spots most of the time and making good decisions. asserted

players → do → decisions

That’s how it goes, we’d have liked to run the ball a little bit better. asserted

we → ’ → ball

But it didn’t happen tonight.” asserted

it → happen → ?