5 things we need to see when Chicago Bears host Carolina Panthers week 10

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Las Vegas Raiders v Chicago Bears, Jack Sanborn
Todd Rosenberg/GettyImages

2. We need to see Jack Sanborn dominate the Carolina Panthers

Jack Sanborn looked great in his first game as the MIKE. Tremaine Edmunds is hurt, but his play was not very good to begin with, so it was interesting to see if Sanborn played well. If he did, maybe the issue was Edmunds and not the pieces around him. This week will be the ultimate test.

Sanborn was good attacking downhill, and looked better against the run than Tremaine Edmunds did. Per PFF, he had seven run stops. However, his issues in coverage remained. Juwan Johnson caught a touchdown, Kendre Miller and Foster Moreau had gains of more than 20 yards, and Alvin Kamra moved the chains consistenly. The linebackers are a huge issue in coverage.

This is a big issue because the Bears signed Edmunds and TJ Edwards because they were supposed to be so good in coverage. The good news is that the Panthers do not feature Chuba Hubbard or Hayden Hurst in the passing game very often. The bad news is that this has not stopped teams from attacking the position. We need to see some life out of Sanborn in coverage. If the Bears cannot slow down this Panthers team, the linebackers will never shown anything, and the Bears will have been right to move Sanborn to the SAM role.