CHICAGO (AP) — Round 2 went to Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears.
Williams passed for 308 yards and two touchdowns, and the Bears cooled off Drake Maye and the New England Patriots with a 30-24 victory Thursday night.
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Chicago Bears linebacker D'Marco Jackson (48) celebrates after intercepting a pass in the end zone during the first half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Chicago, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Chicago Bears linebacker D'Marco Jackson (48) intercepts a pass intended for New England Patriots tight end Eli Raridon (82) as Cam Lewis, center, looks on during the first half of an NFL football game in Chicago, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/David Banks)
New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye throws a pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears in Chicago, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Chicago Bears kicker Cairo Santos (8) watches his 58-yard field goal late in the second half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Chicago, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/David Banks)
Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) scrambles as during the second half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Chicago, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
It was the second meeting between the young quarterbacks since they were part of the 2024 NFL draft. Maye, who was selected by New England at No. 3, directed the Patriots to a 19-3 victory over Williams and the Bears when the longtime friends were rookies.
But Williams, the No. 1 overall pick, leaned on Luther Burden and Colston Loveland while outlasting Maye and the Patriots in the rematch. Williams connected on 22 of 33 passes in his second game back after being sidelined by a right hamstring injury.
“These nights are awesome,” Williams said. “You play against another good team on a primetime game in a short week, these games are awesome because you get to see who you are as a team. That’s who we are. We’re a smashmouth football team, an innovative team. And when things happen and things don’t go our way and the water is rocky, we stay steady.”
Maye was 24 for 31 for 321 yards and two touchdowns. He also had a 7-yard run for New England's first TD with 11:33 left in the first half.
But Maye also was intercepted by Bears linebacker D'Marco Jackson in the end zone on a pass intended for rookie tight end Eli Raridon late in the second quarter.
“It’s those plays, I talk about it all the time,” Maye said. “You know those plays that can swing the game, can impact the game and that was definitely one of them right there. Yeah, I wish I definitely had that one back.”
New England (4-3) had won three consecutive games behind Maye, who threw 10 TD passes and one interception during the win streak.
“He gave us a chance," Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said. "He competed and I know he’d like to have that throw back to Eli, but I thought he really competed. Whether that was running around and scrambling or finding good places to go with the football. He gave us a chance. ... I’m glad he’s ours.”
Burden had four catches for 130 yards for Chicago (5-2), and Loveland had a 12-yard touchdown reception. Cairo Santos kicked a 58-yard field goal with 1:34 left, a career long and matching the franchise record, after he missed a 53-yard attempt earlier in the final quarter.
Williams became the first Bears quarterback to throw for more than 300 yards in consecutive games since Mitch Trubisky had a three-game run in 2018.
“I think he did a pretty good job throughout the night,” Bears coach Ben Johnson said. “I know he had a number of explosive plays. He found some of those guys at the second level that were huge for us.”
After Santos’ long field goal, Maye drove New England into range for Andy Borregales’ 47-yarder with 37 seconds to go. But Chicago recovered the ensuing onside kick.
Rhamondre Stevenson had five catches for 93 yards and a touchdown for the Patriots. Raridon had a 30-yard TD catch in the third quarter.
“We did some good things,” Vrabel said. “But again, didn’t do enough.”
It was Chicago’s first home game since Mike Ditka died on Oct. 9. The Bears saluted the Hall of Fame tight end and longtime coach with a pregame moment of silence, and they also handed out fake mustaches to the crowd of 60,520 at Soldier Field.
Ditka’s No. 89 jersey dotted the stands, and fans also donned Bears sweaters in a callback to what he wore on the sideline as a coach.
Chicago opened a 20-7 lead on Burden’s 24-yard touchdown with 14 seconds left in the first half. Burden got the ball on a screen on third-and-17, and Loveland, Kalif Raymond and Darnell Wright helped clear the way for his second TD reception of the season.
“The whole calvary came ... and it was like a wave carrying him through there,” Johnson said. “He saw a little crease and hit the jets.”
Set to receive the second-half kickoff, the Bears were in position to pull away. But the Patriots responded with Stevenson’s 48-yard touchdown reception on the final play of the period.
Stevenson slipped out of the backfield and Maye lobbed the ball over the head of Bears safety Cam 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.
Patriots: CB Christian Gonzalez played after being listed as questionable because of an illness. ... S Kevin Byard departed after he was checked out by trainers with 9:44 left in first half. He later returned. ... DT Christian Barmore departed late in the game.
Bears: CB Malik Muhammad left in the third quarter with a toe injury. ... TE Cole Kmet hurt his right knee on a reception with 5:34 left. "We’ll know more tomorrow, but I don’t think it looked very good,” Johnson said.
Patriots: At Miami on Nov. 1.
Bears: At Seattle for a Monday night game Nov. 2.
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
Chicago Bears linebacker D'Marco Jackson (48) celebrates after intercepting a pass in the end zone during the first half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Chicago, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Chicago Bears linebacker D'Marco Jackson (48) intercepts a pass intended for New England Patriots tight end Eli Raridon (82) as Cam Lewis, center, looks on during the first half of an NFL football game in Chicago, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/David Banks)
New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye throws a pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears in Chicago, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Chicago Bears kicker Cairo Santos (8) watches his 58-yard field goal late in the second half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Chicago, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/David Banks)
Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) scrambles as during the second half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Chicago, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
First lady Melania Trump has brokered an upcoming ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky to allow for humanitarian aid and the evacuation of civilians, the White House announced on Friday. There was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian or the Russian governments.
The White House said that the first lady had initiated the discussions and that she and a representative worked directly with Russian and Ukrainian leadership to define the terms of the localized ceasefire. People who remain in the city along Ukraine’s southeastern front are facing death from hunger or disease as another harsh winter looms.
Here’s the latest:
First lady Melania Trump has brokered an upcoming ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the war-ravaged city of Oleshky to allow for humanitarian aid and the evacuation of civilians, the White House announced on Friday.
The localized ceasefire is set to begin Oct. 29.
The White House said that the first lady had initiated the discussions and that she and a representative worked directly with Russian and Ukrainian leadership to define the terms of the ceasefire. There was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian or the Russian governments.
The first lady has made helping children in conflict one of her signature issues, hosting a U.N. Security Council meeting on the issue earlier this year. She also has personally written to Russian President Vladimir Putin to work to reunite children displaced by the war with their families.
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In an op-ed Friday, Warren Norman wrote that he is supporting the Republican gubernatorial nominee but not Republican Sen. Darline Graham, the sister of the late Lindsey Graham.
Norman’s father lost the special GOP Senate primary to Graham earlier this year. The developer and lifelong Republican writes “there is no true conservative to vote for in this election,” adding that backing Annie Andrews “will be the first time in my life I’ve voted for a Democrat in a partisan election.”
Norman adds there hasn’t been enough said in the race to replace the late senator about what “Graham will actually do for South Carolina, or whether she’ll stand up to the people funding her campaign when it counts.”
Some of Rep. Ralph Norman’s supporters have mounted a write-in campaign, and the congressman has said he wouldn’t campaign with Graham.
Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro is appearing in two new ads for state Senate candidates in Pennsylvania, where he’s running for reelection and pushing for his party to win control of the Legislature.
The ads are part of an overall $10 million campaign as Shapiro tries to flip control of the state Senate from Republicans for the first time in over three decades.
Speaking directly to the camera, Shapiro says he needs Democrats to help him pass a higher minimum wage and control data center development. The ads are for candidates in the Philadelphia suburbs and northeastern Pennsylvania.
Shapiro is running for reelection against Republican Stacy Garrity this year and is considered a potential 2028 presidential candidate.
In addition to legislative candidates, he’s been campaigning around the state for swing seat House candidates challenging Republican incumbents.
Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins is out with a new ad capitalizing on her opponent Troy Jackson’s debate comment telling her to “shut up.”
“Troy has something to say to Maine women. Shut up,” the ad’s narrator says.
The ad references a comment Jackson made during a debate Oct. 15, when Collins said a person disrupting the event was “obviously one of Troy’s supporters.”
Jackson responded: “Oh, shut up. I don’t even know that kid.”
He added later that he didn’t regret the statement and that he had no idea who the person interrupting the debate was.
Jackson campaign spokesperson Maggie Amjad called the new ad part of a series of personal attacks. “Maine women know which candidate is fighting for them, and it’s Troy Jackson,” Amjad said in an emailed statement.
Collins, the only Republican running this year in a state Kamala Harris carried in 2024, is seeking a 6th term. Jackson, a Democrat, is a former state Senate president and lumberjack.
The U.S. Treasury Department proposed a rule Thursday to crack down on American high-tech investments such as supercomputing and artificial intelligence in China, Russia, North Korea and other “countries of concern.”
The U.S. government has been working for years to deny China and other adversaries investments that could help them boost their military power.
That program began in 2023 when then-President Joe Biden signed an executive order putting restrictions on outbound U.S. investments in sectors such as semiconductors, quantum computing and artificial intelligence going into China. Treasury later established the Outbound Investment Security Program.
In December 2025, Congress passed a law that codified and expanded the program to target more technologies and more foreign countries, including Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Russia.
The inclusion of Russia in the proposed rule has come days after Trump waived sanctions on Russia following a diesel deal with President Vladimir Putin.
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The Supreme Court cleared the way Thursday for New Hampshire to fully ban the use of student IDs for voting during the midterm elections.
The justices granted a Republican-backed emergency appeal and blocked the use of student IDs as a backup method of identification. The Supreme Court cited a longstanding legal principle that judges shouldn’t change voting rules too close to Election Day.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only justice to publicly dissent.
New Hampshire passed a law this year that said student IDs would no longer be an expressly accepted form of identification for obtaining a ballot. The secretary of state then issued guidance barring them as a backup way to prove a voter’s identity.
A judge left the law in place but blocked the guidance in early October, prompting the appeal to the Supreme Court. The Republican National Committee weighed in to support the state.
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A federal judge on Thursday ordered Trump to sit for a deposition in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC by Dec. 11.
The order from U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett came as lawyers for the British broadcaster complained that Trump had delayed his appearance in his own lawsuit. Charles Tobin, attorney for the BBC, said that with two months left in the discovery period, “we still haven’t been able to depose the plaintiff.”
Meanwhile, it remained uncertain whether former special counsel Jack Smith would be allowed to sit for a deposition. Federal rules require current and former employees to receive permission from agency heads before testifying in court cases. Smith has requested permission but has not received an answer, and the judge ruled that the department must respond to him by Nov. 2.
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Trump told reporters that he had “heard something about” the Department of Justice investigating allegations that Corey Lewandowski profited off his past role as an adviser at the Department of Homeland Security, after media reports of an investigation surfaced Thursday.
Lewandowski, who worked at the agency as a special government employee during Kristi Noem’s tenure as Homeland Security secretary, was a longtime ally of Trump. The details of the allegations against Lewandowski aren’t yet clear, though the president said Thursday after a report in The Wall Street Journal that he had heard of the probe.
The president notably didn’t defend Lewandowski, who was his first campaign manager in 2016.
“I don’t know exactly what it is,” Trump told reporters. “All I know is, I want my people to be honest. And if they’re not going to be honest, they have to be prosecuted.” He added, “I’ll have my DOJ go and do whatever they have to do.”
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The backlash over an Ohio campaign advertisement attacking Amy Acton, the Democratic nominee for governor, spread beyond the state’s borders Thursday, causing fresh headaches for Republicans with less than two weeks until the midterm elections.
The latest episode began when Gov. Mike DeWine criticized Vivek Ramaswamy, a fellow Republican that he endorsed as his successor, for running an ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother criticizing her. Acton’s mother lost custody of her children decades ago after her husband was indicted for raping Acton as a child.
But Trump took the opposite approach hours later, posting on social media that Ramaswamy’s ad was “hitting pay dirt” and questioning DeWine’s loyalty to the party.
Trump’s stance only hardened throughout the day. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said, “Amy Acton’s mother said horrible things about Amy Acton” and “she’s fair game.”
Trump’s aggressive defense of Ramaswamy practically guarantees that more of his party’s candidates will face questions about the issue at a moment when they already risk being dragged down by the president’s low popularity.
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People arrive before President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at the Sioux Gateway Airport, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Sioux City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
President Donald Trump gestures after speaking at a campaign rally at Sioux Gateway Airport, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Sioux City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump listens a gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at a campaign rally at the Covelli Centre, in Youngstown, Ohio, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
