Panthers +7 at Bears
After opening the season by facing three of the top NFC teams from 2010, the Bears are who we thought they were, sitting at 1-2. Going into the season, many assumed week 4 against the Panthers would be a cruise control win, but that was before the emergence of the number one overall pick, Cam Newton.
There seemed to be little doubt that Cam Newton had a bright future, but through three weeks, he has been busy showing of an arm, swagger, and and a level of “it” factor confidence that few could say they expected during his rookie year. Newton has thrown for 400 yards in every game not played in a monsoon and grinded his way to his first win last week.
There has been a lot of talk about Ron Rivera and Greg Olsen making their return to Chicago, but make no mistake about it, this game is all about Newton and how he performs against what should turn out to be one of the better defensive teams in the NFC.
6 Things to Watch
Bears out of balance
Will the return of Lance Louis and Marion Barber help a run game that averaged an embarrassing 8 inches per carry last week against the Packers?
No more Craig Steltz
The Bears defense should get a nice boost with the return of both opening day starting safeties Chris Harris and Major Wright.
See Cam throw...short?
The Bears do a great job at taking away the deep pass, which is precisely what Cam and Steve Smith (21.8 yards a catch) have been doing best. If the Bears do what they intend to do and stop the big play, will Cam have the patience to adapt and capitalize with sustained drives and shorter passes?
Chasing Cam
The Bears linebackers (specifically Urlacher) historically have had good success dealing with mobile quarterbacks. Then again, Urlacher (as good as he has played) has never been this old, and the opposing mobile quarterback has never been so young.
Big play Bears - it's gotta happen at some point.....right?
The Panthers have one of the youngest defenses in the league and have had a tendency to give up the big play. In their two losses, they have surrendered touchdown passes of 49, 55, 70, and 84 yards. They did fare better in the rain last week against the Jaguars, but still managed to give up a long (36 yard) “hail mary” touchdown to end the 1st half. Will the Bears and their JV offensive line and "worst receiving core in the NFL" (there I said it) be able to capitalize and continue this trend?
New Julius in Carolina
Jon Beason (121 tackle pro-bowl linebacker) is out for the season, but keep an eye out for Julius Peppers’ replacement, Charles Johnson, who had 11.5 sacks in 2010 and 3 more already this season.
The Prediction
This is an early season must-win home game for a reeling 1-2 Bears team trying to keep up with the Packers and a revitalized Detroit Lions. They should see the returns of Lance Louis, Marion Barber, Chris Harris, Major Wright, and Roy Williams (who apparently wasn’t healthy last week) Sunday. Despite how difficult it is for me to pick a Bears team with such a horrible offensive line and very few playmakers (few being Matt Forte), I am still convinced the Bears have the better team, specifically on defense. Julius Peppers and Brian Urlacher will show up at home and bring Cam Newton back to reality.
Bears 24 Panthers 14
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