The leash was incredibly short for Mac Jones in Week 7's matchup against the Chicago Bears Monday night in Foxborough. After throwing a pick early in the contest — and just through three series — Jones was pulled from the game by New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and gave the QB duties to Billy Zappe.

Peyton Manning, who was doing ESPN's ManningCast for that game, shared his thoughts about the Patriots' decision to bench Mac Jones (h/t Khari Thompson of Boston.com).

“That’s a hard way to play quarterback right?” Manning said. “If you’re hesitant to make a play knowing you’re going to come out, that’s tough. My guess is he didn’t know that was the deal.”

Manning also said that he's not a big fan of yanking quarterbacks right after an error just like what Belichick did to Jones against the Bears.

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“They’ve got confidence in Zappe, he’s made some good decisions,” Manning said. “But, I hate that for a quarterback to throw an interception, we’ve all thrown them, and you usually don’t come out right away in the second quarter. We’ll see how Zappe does.”

The Patriots will have a big decision to make ahead of Week 8 on whether they will start Jones again or let Zappe take the QB1 reins for at least the contest against the New York Jets on the road this coming Sunday. Zappe engineered two touchdown drives after he subbed for Jones but he also finished the game with two interceptions and a lost fumble.

The Patriots are last in the AFC East division with a 3-4 record.