The regular season is back and that means weekly interviews with our fellow, opposing bloggers. This week I spoke with Bill Zimmerman of Windy City Gridiron for all things Caleb Williams, Colston Loveland, and Xavier Woods. Read on for the other side’s perspective on the Carolina Panthers vs the Chicago Bears in Week 1.
I have a long running deal with the Panthers where if they play actually good football then I will ask actually serious questions. Since this is the start of the season I struck a largely
respectful tone. We’ll see where things go from here.
The Carolina Panthers are going to need to start and finish on the ground for most of their wins this season, which gets tricky when their two starting offensive tackles are out for extended time to start the season. How was the Bears rushing defense in 2025 and what has changed about it with this year’s roster?
The run defense was not good in 2025. By season’s end, the Bears found themselves 27th in rushing yards allowed per game, and 29th in yards per attempt (5.0). They struggled to stop the run for most of the season. They did a better job against the run in the playoffs, but the Packers and Rams still had moments of success.
Not a lot has changed with personnel. The Bears traded Gervon Dexter, who was a weaker run defender, away for secondary help and a draft pick, and they replaced Andrew Billings with Neville Gallimore, who, again, I think is a weaker run defender than the player he’s replacing.
TJ Edwards is a solid run defender, and he returns, but they let Tremaine Edmunds walk and replaced him with Devin Bush. It’ll be curious to see how Bush defends the run in Dennis Allen’s scheme.
The defense is definitely faster, and hopefully with that added speed they can swarm to the ball faster than they did last year, but other than Montez Sweat, who I would call a strong run defender, there are going to be plenty of opportunities for the Panthers’ running backs to get some yards through large holes.
Ironically, one of the Panthers few bona fide strengths is their wide receiver corps. What is the strength of the Bears secondary?
I think the strength of the Bears secondary is simply Jaylon Johnson. This defense is probably going to struggle in all facets of stopping opponents. Kyler Gordon is an excellent Nickel, but he’s on IR and won’t play. Coby Bryant was brought in to replace Kevin Byard, but he was also injured and is also on IR.
The Bears’ starting secondary after Jaylon Johnson is definitely beatable. Johnson has had an excellent camp and looks like he’s a lot closer to his All-Pro year than last season, when he played hurt and struggled. But the other two corners will be Cam Lewis (just a guy) and Tyrique Stevenson. Stevenson has been a playmaker in his three years in Chicago, but he also has lapses in concentration and gives up big plays because of it.
Xavier Woods is a decent safety. He steps in for Bryant, and first-round pick Dillon Thieneman will be expected to develop quickly and help stabilize a secondary that is a lot weaker than the team expected it to be back in May.
The Panthers defense has, mildly, struggled to limit production from the Tight End position in the past. Is there any chance that Colston Loveland or Cole Kmet will miss the game due to traffic, the birth of their children, or vague astrological distress?
Now that’s a great question, haha. That may be the only way to stop Ben Johnson’s passing attack. As critical as I am of the defense, it’s the exact opposite of the offense. This passing game should be poetry in motion, and they are going to live in 12 and 13 personnel. The Bears drafted Sam Roush in the 2nd round as their TE3, and he’s looked like he belongs in camp.
Cole Kmet has become a Swiss Army Knife for this offense, and they use him everywhere, and he can do whatever Ben Johnson needs him to do. Colston Loveland’s second half last year was awesome, and you’d have to be living under a rock in Siberia to not see the hype around Loveland this offseason.
I know the Panthers revamped their linebackers a little in hopes of slowing down tight ends, but their first assignment is going to be a very tall order.
What improvements does Caleb Williams need to make over his 2025 form to take the next step?
There were so many improvements in Caleb’s game from 2024 and even from the first few games of 2025 to the QB he was at the end of the season. As the season went on, he got more comfortable with Ben Johnson and more comfortable in the offense. That went a long way.
He went from the most-sacked QB (at a near-record pace) in 2024 to one of the least-sacked QBs in 2025 with elite sack avoidance.
And honestly, how he operated the offense in 2025 was also a big improvement from September to January.
I say those things (even though you didn’t ask) to show that the growth is there and most expect it to continue. First of all, he doesn’t have to learn Ben Johnson’s complicated offense in the spring; he gets to hone his skills on an offense he already knows.
The team as a whole needs to improve on the scramble drill. I think if that happens (and it has been a focus in practice), that’s going to make Caleb’s play-making abilities when he’s on the run even better.
Some people will complain about his Time to Throw and his completion percentage. Most analysts who know QB play well don’t worry about those things too much. Caleb was a little inconsistent with his accuracy from the pocket, but his accuracy on the move is absurd. Assuming he’s more comfortable in the offense, I expect the accuracy and play in structure from the pocket to improve. Caleb is probably never going to be a guy with a 68% completion percentage. He’s probably going to be more like a 64% guy, which is totally fine the way he plays the game because he keeps his turnovers insanely low.
His time to throw will always be high because of the way he tries to create on the move multiple times a game, but the key is when he does it, the defensive line has to get him to the ground. They could in 2024, and they couldn’t in 2025. The Panthers will have to see which year they can better copy this Sunday.
Let’s keep it easy. What do you think the final score will be?
I do think the Bears will win this one because I just think the offense is clicking already and will put up some numbers. I do think the Panthers are going to move the ball on the Bears as well, but just not at the same rate. I think we’ll see a 34-24 victory by Chicago on Sunday.
