"Mac Jones is a THUG", "DIRTY PLAYER!" - Mac Jones' kick to Bears players' crotch has NFL fans fuming

Mac Jones had the NFL fraternity fuming after appearing to catch Chicago Bears safety Jaquan Brisker as he slid in to give himself up. At the time of the incident during the game, the Chicago Bears were 10 points up on the New England Patriots, who had yet to open their account.

Fans may feel, given the state of their offensive output in the game, that Mac Jones was frustrated and lashed out. His recent position has not been helped by backup rookie Bailey Zappe playing phenomenal football as he has been out injured. Whether all those factors contributed to the altercation is unknown, but they certainly could have played a signficant part.

Any quarterback out with injury seeing their backup light up the field is never good. This is especially true given the history of the New England Patriots when Tom Brady took over the spot after Drew Bledsoe's injury. He never relinquished the spot.

The incident left safety Jaquan Brisker lying on the turf writhing in pain. Whatever the reason was, it looked dirty, and NFL fans conveyed their disgust in no uncertain terms.

Here is a selection of some of the responses on Twitter regarding the incident:

Jaquan Brisker gets immediate revenge on Mac Jones

While there was no flag on the play and no penalty was called, Jaquan Brisker did not take it lying down. The rookie safety left for a while due to the injury, but when he was back, he made it count.

With the New England Patriots yet to open the scoring until then, Brisker came up with a huge play as he intercepted Mac Jones.

It was an astonishing one-handed grab from the safety. What's more is that he picked him off on something called kick coverage, which brought some sort of poetic justice to the whole circle.

Even more worryingly for Mac Jones, it may have spelt the end of his starting job with the New England Patriots. Bill Belichick gave the key to the offense to rookie Bailey Zappe, who has played well as a quarterback for them over the last couple of weeks.

Mac Jones may yet find out that his kick to the crotch of the unassuming Chicago Bears safety came at a significant cost. If it indeed portends a change of guard, this incident might well become known for heralding a new era for the New England Patriots.