The Chicago Bears came up with their biggest win of the Matt Eberflus era against the Carolina Panthers Thursday night in a battle between two future NFL backup quarterbacks. The Bears win should help Eberflus’ successor find a top quarterback prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent earned his second career win as a starter and came over Panthers rookie Bryce Young. The Panthers gave up D.J. Moore and several draft picks to the Bears in exchange for the right to draft Young with the first overall pick in the 2024 draft. Frankly, it appears the Bears won the trade with the Panthers, as Young doesn’t look like he should have been the top overall prospect in April.
Here are two studs and duds from the Bears’ 16-13 win over the Panthers.
Chicago Bears studs
2024 draft position
The Bears needed to beat the Panthers for the best odds of attaining the 2024 first-overall pick. The Panthers now fall to 1-8 and are tied with the Arizona Cardinals for the league’s worst record. Fortunately for the Bears, Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray should be back under center for Arizona shortly.
(The Bears will face the Cardinals on Christmas Eve, which could feature another matchup to decide significant draft position for next April.)
Bears win-win. They beat the Panthers 16-13, and being that they own Carolina’s 2024 first-round pick, further boosted their chances of landing the No. 1 overall pick.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 10, 2023
Sacks
The Bears came into Week 10 having recorded just ten sacks for the season. They added three sacks of Bryce Young to that total Thursday night. The Bears’ pass rush looks noticeably more forceful with Montez Sweat, but he has yet to register a sack of his own.
Chicago Bears duds
Special teams
Punter Trenton Gill and the punting team didn’t perform well against the Panthers. The Bears decided to make Velus Jones Jr., their speediest defender on the punt team, inactive against the Panthers. Former Bears wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette ran a punt back 79 yards for a Panthers touchdown.
With the Bears up six points in the fourth quarter, Gill shanked a punt that went 26 yards, giving the Panthers possession of the football at the Bears’ 40-yard line. Fortunately, the Panthers could not capitalize on the excellent field position and settled for a field goal.
Roschon Johnson
The Bears rookie running back is even slower out of the backfield than the guy he was drafted to replace, David Montgomery. He finished with 18 rushing yards on five carries and added 14 receiving yards on four catches. Johnson is not hitting holes as hard as what Bears fans were hoping for coming out of the draft.
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Justin Fields trolls Panthers QB Bryce Young
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