Know your opponent: How Chicago Bears match up with Carolina Panthers on national stage
It’s no secret, the Carolina Panthers and Chicago Browns are a bit down on their luck heading into their Thursday Night Football game.
They each have lost seven games.
They each have experienced up-and-down quarterback play.
And they each have loads of injuries to work through. Chicago (2-7), for instance, considers starting quarterback Justin Fields and leading tackler linebacker Termaine Edmunds day-to-day ahead of Thursday’s game — while the Panthers (1-7) have among the deepest list of players on the injured reserve (12) as anyone in the NFL and will likely be missing their best player, All-Pro pass rusher Brian Burns, with a concussion.
Here’s a quick scouting report of the Chicago Bears — and a comparison of their struggles to Carolina’s — before the two meet at 8:15 ET Thursday on Amazon (and on WSOC locally).
Who will start at quarterback for the Bears?
It’s the question of the week/day/hour in Chicago: Will Fields play? The third-year quarterback has missed the last three games after sustaining a dislocated thumb Oct. 15 against the Vikings and was limited in practice on Monday.
Rookie Tyson Bagent out of Shepherd University in West Virginia, a Division II powerhouse, has played in Fields’ injured stead to varying avail. In his lone win over the Raiders, he went 21-29 for 162 yards and a touchdown. In the last two weeks, though, he’s combined for two passing touchdowns, five interceptions and been sacked three times.
The Bears’ passing offense, in other words, is nothing to necessarily write home about. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be dangerous. Panthers fans know this in particular, when they saw former Carolina wideout DJ Moore go off against the Washington Commanders.
Moore leads the team with 735 yards and five touchdowns. He and tight end Cole Kmet (41 catches for 374 yards) and Darnell Mooney (20 catches for 307 yards) are the team’s three primary targets.
Carolina’s pass defense is still considered a strength of the team. It has held down the few great quarterbacks it has crossed paths with: Rookie of the year favorite CJ Stroud had a desultory day in Bank of America Stadium Week 7. Kirk Cousins, who at the time was leading the league in passing yards, struggled in Carolina, too.
Chicago has an impressive and familiar running game
For as good as the Panthers’ pass defense has been, though, it’s made up for in its not-great run defense.
And that plays into the Bears’ hands quite well.
The Panthers allow 28.3 points per game (tied for 31st) and 131.8 rushing yards per game (28th). A ton of this has to do with the team’s lackluster red zone performances: At one point during the season, the Panthers had allowed touchdowns in 12 straight red zone possessions.
The Bears come in notching 135.3 rushing yards per game (top 5 in the league). And they’re doing so with D’Onta Foreman, who impressed with the Panthers in 2022.
Foreman was signed by the Bears this offseason. He didn’t get many chances early in 2023 but was flung into the starting lineup a few weeks ago because the Bears’ backfield was in injured disrepair — and he hasn’t looked back since. He’s run the ball 65 times for 287 yards and two touchdowns so far this year.
It’s also conceivable the Bears get an upgrade to their backfield this week: Khalil Herbert, the team’s second leading rusher, was designated to return from injured reserve Monday, opening a 21-day window to activate him.
Bears, Panthers each have one clear defensive strength
It doesn’t take a genius to see the strengths of both defenses: The Panthers are solid against the pass and have struggled mightily against the run, as aforementioned. The Bears, meanwhile, are the opposite.
Chicago currently boasts one of the best run defenses in the league. The team is first in rushing yards allowed per attempt (3.3) and fourth in rushing yards allowed per game (79.7). A lot of that comes from a strong interior defensive line in Justin Jones, Andrew Billings and rookie Zacch Pickens — plus an active interior linebacking corps led at the moment by TJ Edwards.
Meanwhile, the numbers show the Bears’ pass defense isn’t great. They’re last in third down efficiency — typically a passing stat — and have recorded an NFL-worst 10 sacks on the year. That’s without mentioning the 256.9 passing yards they give up a game (28th) and 26.9 points allowed per game (28th).
These numbers present possibility for a struggling Panthers passing offense, surely. But let’s not forget: The Colts arrived in Carolina a week ago having lost three straight largely thanks to an unheralded defense — and that same defense notched more touchdowns than the Panthers offense did.
Five interesting stats for Carolina Panthers
▪ Chicago leads the regular-season series with Carolina 3-7, per a game release from the team. The Panthers haven’t beaten the Bears in the regular season in Chicago. The only Panthers win in Chicago came in the divisional round of the 2005 playoffs. The Bears are looking for their first win against an NFC South opponent this year.
▪ Burns passed Shaq Thompson in career tackles for loss on Sunday. He now has 52 TFL, fifth most in team history, still 23 behind all-time leaders Luke Kuechly and Charles Johnson. Head coach Frank Reich essentially ruled out Burns, who left Sunday with a concussion, for Thursday’s game in the coach’s Monday afternoon availability. The good news? OLB Marquis Haynes was lifted off IR this afternoon.
▪ Raheem Blackshear is averaging 36.8 yards on kickoff returns. That’s most among all players with at least five KOR this season, per the team, and is fifth overall. Blackshear was a healthy scratch to begin the season but has brought value to this backfield.
▪ Frankie Luvu had another double-digit tackle game (11) on Sunday. The inside linebacker has now played four games in which he’s led the team in tackles.
▪ Panthers leading wide receiver Adam Thielen needs just four receptions to become the fifth undrafted player in the common-draft era with at least 600 career receptions. Look out for this history Thursday.
