When the Chicago Bears host the Carolina Panthers, it will be a game that gets mocked nationally. Thursday Night Football is always considered a joke, and now we get a 1-7 Panthers team on the road to take on the 2-7 Bears. The stakes could not be any lower. Still, there will be plenty of juicy storylines for football fans to follow in a game that may be entertaining for the wrong reasons.
5. The Chicago Bears want the first overall pick
This is the one game of the year where every fan of the Chicago Bears wants them to win. Most fans always want them to win, but there are the fans who want their team to tank for draft position. Every win is a win away from the top quarterback on the board. However, this week, a win actually helps them get closer to the top pick. The Bears have the Panthers' first-round pick.
That pick is currently second overall. The only reason they are behind the Arizona Cardinals right now is because the Cardinals did not have their bye week yet. So, the Panthers could easily finish with the first pick. The Bears need to win to make that happen.
The Panthers do not have their pick, so they need every win this year to justify it. Every loss makes that trade look worse, so you know that they will be all-in. The good news is that if the Bears do lose, they still win a small bit in the draft war. They would just have two picks that are teams with two wins. They would need Arizona to win again, but with Kyler Murray back, a Panthers win could still lead to the Bears picking first and second this year. How will the draft standings change after this week?
4. The Chicago Bears get to see Bryce Young up close
The Chicago Bears have the potential number-one overall pick this year because they traded the number-one overall pick last year. That pick ended up being Bryce Young. If you recall, there was so much debate about whether the Bears should keep the pick and take Bryce Young or trade the pick to build around Justin Fields. The reality is that both have not worked out well, but the Chicago Bears may have an easier exit.
As noted, they have two picks destined for the top five, and they are not committed to Justin Fields. The Panthers have to stick with Bryce Young for a few more years, but he does not look like he belongs in the NFL.
Young has eight touchdowns and seven interceptions this year. He threw two pick sizes in a game where his team lost by 14 points. He has a 3.6 adjusted net yards per attempt. For comparison, Fields is at 4.6 for his career. Young looks cerebral and accurate enough, but he does not physically capable of winning in a league with humans so much bigger, stronger, and faster than him. We will get to see if he can handle Montez Sweat and the Bears pass rush. Also, how does he stack up with Justin Fields, the person the Bears chose over him? Young has one win this year, but he beat CJ Stroud, the other quarterback the Bears could have taken in that spot.
3. The Chicago Bears will have D.J. Moore against his old team
D.J. Moore has taken on a lot of familiar foes, with the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the schedule already. Now, he takes on the one NFC South team that he has no experience playing against. He takes on the Carolina Panthers, the team that traded him away.
To be fair, they may have done right by him. Still, that may not stop us from seeing a D.J. Moore revenge game. It helps that Moore is motivated, but even better is seeing who is on the schedule. The Panthers pass defense is falling apart. They are already without Jaycee Horn. The team just lost CJ Henderson against the Indianapolis Colts as well. This left them starting Dicaprio Bootle across from Donte Jakson.
Bootle is a journeyman who has never really had a role in the NFL. Jackson has been with Moore since he was drafted. The issue with Jackson is his size, and Moore has shown that he can manhandle the smaller cornerbacks when he needs to. Moore should show the Panthers that they not only lost a high-end draft pick in the future. They lost a building block on their roster.
2. Both Derrick Brown and Brian Burns will play against the Chicago Bears
The reports around the trade for D.J. Moore are that the Chicago Bears had a chance to trade for Moore, Derrick Brown, or Brian Burns, and they chose to center the deal around Moore. That is notable because both Brown and Burns will be on the field tonight. So, while Moore will show Carolina what they are missing, these two are looking to do the same exact thing.
These two are the only good things on the Panthers' defense that is keeping them afloat. Burns has 171 snaps against left tackles and 207 against right tackles, so you are going to see him matched up against both Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright. Wright struggles with speed, and given his rookie status, you may see a lot of Burns against Wright on Thursday.
Brown is a force as a run defender, while Burns is better at defending the pass. He is an elite matchup, as he will spend a lot of time against Lucas Patrick and Cody Whitehair. These two have chances to make the Chicago Bears feel bad. The Bears do not regret Moore, but they would love either of those linemen on their side on Thursday.
1. Who is better Frank Reich or Matt Eberflus?
This is an interesting underlying matchup. Back with the Indianapolis Colts, the team had Frank Reich calling the offense and Matt Eberflus calling the defense. Now, they are coaching against each other. For Reich, he gave up play-calling duties to his offensive coordinator, Thomas Brown. For Eberlus, he took over play-calling duties from his defensive coordinator, Alan Williams. Both are failing in their new jobs so far.
So, we will get to see who the brains of the Colts were on Thursday. It will be the Reich offense against the Eberflus defense. The familiarity is there for both sides, so there are no excuses for either.
With the draft pick on the line, Justin Fields being chosen over Bryce Young, DJ Moore being shipped off but also chosen over Brian Burns and Derrick Brown, and then Reic and Eberflus familiarity, there Is a lot to think about and watch for when the Bears and Panthers square off.