The Panthers traveled to Chicago for a clash with the Bears on October 6 in Week 5 of the 2024 NFL season. Here are some takeaways and highlights from the game.
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Final Score: Bears 36, Panthers 10
Heading into Sunday’s game, Bears fans hoped to see an improved offense. The Bears cooked up 36 points on the Panthers’ defense, showing fans what the young offense could be capable of. Rookie No. 1 pick Caleb Williams showed out, among others, in the 36-10 landslide victory.
The Panthers made the game look like a close one early, but that didn’t last long. Chuba Hubbard scored in the first quarter. After the Panthers’ only touchdown, the Bears went on a rampage, scoring 30 more unanswered points. Hubbard succeeded against this solid Bears run defense, tallying 97 yards on just 13 attempts. Other than that, the suffocating Bears defense ran the show.
Interestingly, the Bears used safeties Jaquan Brisker and Kevin Byard almost interchangeably. They saw relatively the same snap counts at deep safety, in the box, and as nickel corners. Usually, Brisker is in the box more, while Byard is the deep man much more often, so this may be something to watch for going forward.
The offense was finally cooking for Chicago, largely due to the aforementioned Williams. He has shown improvements each week so far in his rookie season, which is a fantastic indicator for Bears fans. He finished with 304 yards and two touchdowns, completing 20 of his 29 pass attempts.
The Bears seemed to find their identity as they leaned on the run game quite a bit, tallying 39 attempts on the ground. D’Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson form a pretty good duo out of the backfield. They need to be more efficient with their touches and force more missed tackles, though. They got 128 yards on the ground, averaging just 3.3 per carry.
The offensive line was great for the Bears. Williams finally had a little more time in the pocket. With more time, he was able to make his reads and hit his guys. He did much better at progressing through his reads than before, as you can tell that he is making strides in his first few weeks. Even when the line didn’t give him all day in the pocket, he was able to do what we expected out of college and make the off-platform throws.
Panthers vs. Bears Highlights
Watch how Caleb Williams identifies one high safety, then manipulates him to get D.J. Moore one on one then delivers a PERFECTLY placed football.
WOW. #DaBears #Bears #ChicagoBears pic.twitter.com/x8GsoQ0lkH
— Clay Harbor (@clayharbs82) October 6, 2024
.@JaquanBrisker knocks it loose and #DaBears take it away!
📺: #CARvsCHI on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/nHG3SzrjTG— NFL (@NFL) October 6, 2024
Chuba Hubbard has been COOKING these last four weeks:
11.6 pts
27.9 pts
22.1 pts
12.4 pts and countingpic.twitter.com/6goiXdvL83— NFL Fantasy Football (@NFLFantasy) October 6, 2024
Looking Forward
Caleb had some fantastic throws and was able to read the defense rather than staring down his receivers. He has shown great growth and could lead the Bears to the playoffs if he keeps up his good form.
The Panthers had a good run game but had to shy away from it once they found themselves in a deficit. After benching former number one overall pick Bryce Young, they may be best off looking forward to next offseason for improvements on the squad.
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