4 Chicago Bears observations entering Week 5 vs. Carolina Panthers

4. Prediction for the Panthers game

This is a game that the Bears must win convincingly. As mentioned earlier, Carolina has been competitive since switching to Andy Dalton. His veteran presence and savviness will keep them in the ball game.

But eventually, I expect the Bears defense to be focused and find ways to pressure him and even cause turnovers. Expect Montez Sweat, who had a strip sack that the Bears recovered and scored a touchdown, to be very disruptive while Dexter could notch another sack again. The defense must do a better job stopping the run and improve their third-down defense as Matthew Stafford and Kyron Williams kept them in the game.

As for the offense, they must improve their lack of scoring in the first quarter. If they still have a hard time scoring anything against them, then Waldron puts himself on the hot seat again. They must commit to running the football and also find ways to utilize DJ Moore from the start.

We should also expect Caleb Williams to take another step against the depleted Carolina defense, which is missing defensive tackle Derek Brown and linebacker Shaq Thompson. Both players are done for the season. The Bears need to keep winning before the difficult part of the schedule hits in November.

Prediction: Bears 34-17