The Chicago Bears head to Charlotte this Sunday to face off against the Carolina Panthers. The Bears are expected to win this game, according to experts and Vegas. But both teams won their respective divisions last year and are looking to repeat that feat this year.
We know the Bears well, but we wanted to get some insight on their opponent this week, so we spoke with Walker Clement of Cat Scratch Reader (SB Nation’s Carolina Panthers site) to discuss the Panthers and where they are at heading into
this season. Here is our Q&A.
1. Let’s start with the coach and Dave Canales with his decision not to call offensive plays this year. Wasn’t that part of the reason he was brought in? What do fans think about this decision to hand play-calling duties to Brad Idzik?
The Canales hire was, as best I can tell, a three-part decision. One part was that Tepper was viewed as a volatile owner and no big names wanted the job. A second part was that Canales’ relentless optimism was viewed as necessary change from the dysfunction that was Frank Reich’s brief tenure and the disingenuousness of Matt Rhule. The biggest part that set him apart from the other “up-and-comer” candidates was his success with Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield.
Play calling was always, hopefully, secondary to quarterback whispering.
Idzik, for his part, is a relative unknown who has shown some promise in limited preseason games as a play caller. I’m optimistic that the team will look a little stronger and a little more coherent under his guidance, whereas Canales would occasionally get stuck digging a hole for himself with a fixation on one idea.
2. Bryce Young has definitely improved under Canales compared to where he was a couple of years ago, but has he improved enough? Do you expect Young to get an extension after this season or will the Panthers just play out the 5th year option?
That is the $26.53M question. When Young is good, he’s pretty good. When he’s bad, he wobbles between ineffective and incautious. Unfortunately, his average is far closer to ineffective than even adequate. While ineffective is an improvement over “outright detriment,” it is insufficient to merit an extension and pales in comparison to the draft capital spent to acquire him. You’re welcome on that one.
What we don’t know with Young is whether or not he has hit his ceiling. His entrance to the NFL was bumpy. His size is an obvious impediment. Is that his whole story, or is he slowly building the skills and habits he needs to overcome the first act of his NFL career? I think the answer to that question is yes. He is improving and probably has room left to improve. Will he improve enough to earn an extension this season? Or even at a rate that earns a roster spot during his now-guaranteed fifth year? I don’t know. Young has been nothing but questions since he entered the league, and most Panthers fans are tired of asking them. Give us an answer or give us a new quarterback, but one more year of “maybe Young will step up this season” might actually break us.
The awkward thing about that, and what is already splitting the fan base, is that it leaves no clear path to root for. The objectively best thing for the Panthers is for Young to put it together and be the quarterback of the future in a way that justifies his draft spot. ‘The quarterback is on the roster’ is always a better statement than ‘a quarterback is on the roster’. It just seems unlikely. So are we hoping for the wheels to fall off, sending the Panthers plummeting towards the number one overall pick again? What a great thing to root for. Are we hoping he shows just enough to entice another team to trade a high pick for him as part of a reclamation project? This also seems unlikely. It would also leave the Panthers with a likely middling draft pick and few options for pursuing their next quarterback.
Young will probably have an OK season. I doubt, at this point, that he is going to start the season on fire and keep burning through January. The Panthers will either have the option to eat some of his salary and flip him for a Day 3 draft pick or keep him as a highly paid back up/awkward piece in a quarterback competition. None of those exactly pave the way for the team having their choice of quarterbacks in the 2027 season. Of course, having the ninth overall pick didn’t stop them from getting their guy in 2023.
3. I think I’m contractually obligated to ask about the trade. Where are fans with this trade, and how much do you think it’s hurt the Panthers? I think most Bears fans are still in agreement that this is the best move Ryan Poles has ever made, and with the growth of Caleb Williams, it probably will never be topped during his tenure in Chicago.
See above? Pass? Yeah, we’re doing great. Thanks for asking.
Ask again after the season. Maybe then we’ll know more, but as I said in the previous question, we just have too many questions around Young to say anything with confidence. The unknown, more than the actual stretches and stretches of bad play, hurts more at this point.
4. How significant are the injuries that plagued the Panthers this summer, and how much will it impact them this Sunday against Chicago and moving forward the rest of the season?
The Panthers’ joyous injury fortunes currently stretch back to the 2025 Wildcard game that the 8-9 Carolina Panthers hilariously took down to the wire. It was a great game, but it also cost us our starting left tackle, Ikem Ekwonu (Patellar tendon), for what will likely be most of the 2026 season. Our starting right tackle, Taylor Moton (blood clots), popped up in the offseason with a blood clot in his lung that has him sidelined for at least another month. Then our rising star from the 2025 NFL Draft and starting outside linebacker, Nic Scourton (ACL), went down on the first day of training camp. It hasn’t gotten a whole lot worse from there, but a lot of us are still walking around on eggshells waiting for the next shoe.
The good news is that free agent signing Rasheed Walker and our 2026 first-round pick Monroe Freeling make up a well above average pair of second-string offensive tackles. The team’s depth is actually built pretty well to make a good game out of Sunday and a strong push into December if they can actually come out of the gate with some heat. The team has had notoriously cold starts under head coach Dave Canales, so this is probably the story we’re watching the most closely going into Sunday.
5. I don’t think many people expected Carolina to make the playoffs last year, even at 8-9. Do you think it was a fluke season of a below-average team in a weak division, or is this a team that’s building something and could elevate to that next tier in the next year or two?
Yes.
There are two questions that we hope to answer relatively early in the season. One, has Young taken a step forward? His supporting cast has improved year over year. He is out of excuses with stability, team depth, and adjustment time. This year is on him. Two, does the whole team start with mountains of offseason rust like they have the past two seasons?
A cold start and an inconsistent Young put us right back where we were last year, with a roster trending towards above average but with below average leadership in the silliest division in football. That means anything can happen.
A hot start and a Young who passes for over 150 yards more often than not (we set the bar high around here) could make for a fun season for Panthers fans. The NFC South is a weird place to be, but a good team should win it. The Panthers have all the pieces in place to beat the Bears in Week 1 and to win the Division by Week 18. Whether or not they can make all those pieces work together comes down to Young, Canales, and Idzik for the most part.
All I know is that betting money on the Panthers is a terrible idea. They never quite do what you expect.
