3 keys to a Chicago Bears victory over Panthers on Thursday Night Football

The Chicago Bears will play on Thursday Night Football for the second time this season, facing off against the Carolina Panthers in Week 10.

The Bears and Panthers are a combined 3-14 on the season, yet this game still has some interesting dynamics.

The Panthers traded their 2024 1st-round pick and DJ Moore to the Bears for the first overall pick in the 2023 draft. They used it on quarterback Bryce Young. They’ll want to show they made the right choice, and beating Chicago would be a good step in that direction.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Bears want to ensure that the first-rounder they received from Carolina is as high as possible, so beating them is a must, considering it would be one of the worst losses on the Panthers’ ledger in 2023.

Let’s be clear: these are both lousy football teams right now. They’re also banged up. Carolina will be without star pass rusher Brian Burns and cornerback Jaycee Horn. Chicago, meanwhile, is still starting backup quarterback Tyson Bagent. At least, we think they are. Head coach Matt Eberflus wasn’t exactly clear on that.

With that in mind, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see either team come away with a win on Thursday night. If it’s going to be the Bears, there are three keys they need to hit.

Takeaways and Sacks

For the fourth time in Matt Eberflus’ 26-game tenure, the Chicago Bears defense finished with 0 sacks and 0 takeaways last week against the Saints. For perspective, that happened just five times in the nine-year tenure of Lovie Smith. That is unacceptable, especially for a defensive head coach.

It’s almost impossible to win games when your defense isn’t making a single impact play. Adding Montez Sweat at the trade deadline should turn more of these pressures into sacks.

Jaylon Johnson is also playing for a contract extension, so you know he has interceptions on his mind.

Panthers quarterback Bryce Young is a rookie with a bad offensive line who’s already thrown a lot of interceptions and taken a lot of sacks. If the Bears’ defense can’t feast on this matchup, they don’t stand a chance against any team in the NFL.

Tyson Bagent needs to bounce back

For about 48 minutes in Week 9, Tyson Bagent played his way into a legitimate quarterback controversy. Then the bottom fell out as he turned the ball over three times in the fourth quarter. Coaching and personnel decisions played a part in that, and it was a tough assignment against a good defense in a stadium the Chicago Bears have not seen victory in since 1991.

But Bagent has to be better.

We’ve seen what Bagent can do when he’s on his game. The whole offense plays with swagger, they march down the field and score touchdowns. That’s what the Bears need from him on Thursday night. They don’t need to blow the Panthers out by four scores, but he needs to be efficient and smart with the football.

Lean into the “revenge game”

The Bears have two former Panthers on the team, and both have been significant impact players in recent weeks: D’Onta Foreman and DJ Moore.

There may not be bad blood between the players and their former team, but I imagine they will enjoy having a huge game against Carolina.

Matt Eberflus has to realize this, and he has to lean into it.

Foreman and Moore aren’t just role players, they are legitimate playmakers who can take over a game, as both have already proven. The Bears must let Foreman pound the rock consistently, and they need to dial up as many targets as possible for Moore. He should end the game with no fewer than eight catches.

Let your playmakers make plays, especially the ones who will have a little something extra for this game.

Final Prediction: Chicago Bears win 27-17

We’ll see a badly-needed bounce-back game for the Chicago Bears on Thursday night. The defense will give Bryce Young fits all night, while Bagent looks more like he did in the first three quarters of the Saints game. It’s likely his last start before Justin Fields returns, he’ll make it count.

However, as I said earlier, these are both terrible teams, and either one could realistically win. If the Carolina Panthers somehow win and the Bears fall to 2-8, the calls for Eberflus to be fired immediately will become deafening.