Thought No. 1: Chicago Bears are fortunate to have the Panthers' first-round pick
The Bears beating the Panthers last Thursday night was huge both on and off the field. Anytime the Bears win these days should be celebrated since they rarely do under Matt Eberflus.
At this point, even if the Bears are winning ugly, they owe no one any apologies.
Entering Week 11, the Bears have both the first overall selection they got from Carolina in the trade in March and their own which currently sits at 5th overall. The hope is that the Carolina Panthers will keep losing out the rest of the season and maintain the first overall selection. But they will face competition for the top pick for the rest of the season
Behind the Panthers (Bears) are the New York Giants, New England, and Arizona all at 2-8. Kyler Murray just returned to Arizona after missing almost a year after tearing his ACL injury last November. Murray made an instant impact as he helped the Cardinals beat the Atlanta Falcons in his 2023 debut last Sunday. The Bears welcome the Cardinals on Christmas Eve.
Meanwhile, New York and New England will face each other in two weeks. Should they finish with the same record, one of them will be ahead of whoever loses that game. Much like the Bears, both teams have huge question marks at quarterbacks too. The Giants are a huge mess after making the playoffs last year as Daniel Jones has been too injury prone. The Patriots are probably going to part ways with head coach Bill Belichick as they have struggled badly since they drafted Mac Jones, who has struggled badly this year, and the confidence in him has dwindled.
In addition to watching both the Panthers and the Bears, the Bears fans will be busy paying attention to the scoreboard of the New York Giants, New England, and Arizona games for the rest of this season praying that luck will be on the Bears' side again.