In Week 2 of the NFL regular season, the Carolina Panthers will play the Chicago Bears at Bank of America Stadium at 1 PM EST. At first glance, this game would appear to be a fairly easy victory for the Panthers. But let's take a closer look at this matchup anyway.
The Panthers defense shouldn't have any trouble keeping the Bears offense at bay.
Chicago's current quarterback situation isn't as bad as the Panthers' was last season, but it's by no means stable. There is no clear starter, and neither Kyle Orton nor Rex Grossman, last year's starter, have showed much ability in the preseason (in which they have played two teams whose defenses were below the top ten last year.
Orton is only a combined 12-of-29 for 99 yards (and no touchdowns) in Chicago's first two preseason games this year.
Grossman has gone 13-of-23 for 118 yards and a touchdown so far in the 2008 preseason—he's played better than Orton, but not by much. Besides, performing better than Kyle Orton is no large task.
But it doesn't matter how good your quarterbacks may or may not be, they're no good without a great offensive line and receiving corps.
Center Olin Kreutz is the only standout on the offensive line, so the Panthers defensive line should be able to put a lot of pressure on the quarterback (whoever that turns out to be). Julius Peppers in particular ought to overwhelm left tackle Chris Williams.
Marty Booker, who had 50 catches for 556 yards and a touchdown last year, is the Bears' No.1 receiver. On most other teams, he'd be a third receiver at best. That just shows you how bad Chicago's receivers are.
Panthers cornerback Chris Gamble, who had 47 tackles, an interception, and six deflections last season, will be lined up opposite Booker. Look for Gamble to limit Booker to about 55 yards and five catches.
No.2 receiver Brandon Lloyd is entering his sixth NFL season, and he has never received for more than 48 grabs, 733 yards, and five touchdowns. CB Ken Lucas, who accumulated 61 tackles, 12 deflections, and two picks, will be matched up with Lloyd. Expect Lucas to hold him to three receptions for 40 yards.
The running backs are no better.
2007 starter Cedric Benson is gone, and Adrian Peterson—no, not that Adrian Peterson—is listed as the starter. However, second round draft pick Matt Forte could take over the starting job quickly. He ran for 2721 yards and 23 touchdowns on 361 carries in his senior year at Tulane, and he also received for 32 receptions and 282 yards.
The only positive on offense is tight end Desmond Clark, who is coming off the two best years of his career, between which he caught 89 passes for 1171 yards and 10 touchdowns. If Clark can bring his good hands back for 2008, he could be the thorn in the Panthers' side.
9 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment
David Trent 10 months ago
I wait till Mus go back to chicago an plays the crap out of there corners. He even said being a bears reciever could break you. They have nothing but defense keeping that team together. I hope hester scores on us cause hes going to be the only one getting past us(not going to happen). Why havent they kicked rex out, HE SUCKS, what does smith think having him on the team going to do. Plan to get a win in this one easly.
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Matt Gilmartin 10 months ago
Wow, even Moose said that? I know that they have nothing but defense. But in the NFL, teams will find a way to score on you eventually, and if you can't score youself, you will lose. Why do you hope Hester scores on us—wouldn't it be cool to post a shutout? I can't figure out why they didn't cut both of their current quarterbacks in the offseason and draft a new one. With the minimal amount of effort the coaching staff and management is putting into getting a good team together in Chicago, it makes you wonder about their priorities (probably something like this: 1) MONEY/selling tickets, 2) winning)
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David Trent 10 months ago
haha thats funny, na i was just joking about hester scoring. I think i heard it that last week vs the eagles, were he says that anybody that is a reciever on the bears will go nowhere, its something like that. For about 3 years i keep asking myself is rex really that talented, cause for the same three years i keep hating him. Hes like a coin 5O 5O, one day hes putting alot points,the next week his qb rating is like 6O. Cut the kid, replace him.
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Mike 10 months ago
what Moose said is Chicago is where receivers go and die. I think you underrate Matt forte I believe he is going to be a stud RB kind of like Steward should be and i think Urlacher is the most overrated and overhyped ML in the NFL he can run down players but if you run at him you can get though him just don't trey to run around him he will catch the RB
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Matt Gilmartin 10 months ago
How did I underestimate Forte? I never said he would be a scrub running back, or anything. I don't know what the kid has, all I can go on is the fact that he's been chosen fairly high in all the fantasy drafts I've done (which is way too many). For that reason I only said he would likely replace Adrian Peterson quickly and I gave his senior season college stats. I don't know what Urlacher's strengths and weaknesses are because I only see him play occasionally, whenever the Panthers and Bears play.
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Mike 10 months ago
Sorry i guess i misunderstood you at the part just before you start talking about the RB's you said the RB's were no better and the way you made some great observations about their WR's position being one of the worse in the league i just missed what you were saying about Forte. Look I'm not trying to put down your articles I think for someone still in High School you are a very well thought out writer who does a phenomenal job and if you make a carrier out of I believe you will go far
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Matt Gilmartin 10 months ago
Thanks for the kind words about my writing skills, Mike. I hope to make sportswriting my career, I love it. It used to be a battle between sportswriting and video game journalism, but once I started writing for BR, sportwriting quickly became the heavy favorite, and video game journalism was a thing of the past. I really didn't take offense at what you said, I was just trying to answer your question about Forte.
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matt scott 10 months ago
The bears are going to crush the carolina panthers. The bears beat the colts easily, and the colts are a better team than the panthers ever thought about being. The panthers just got lucky and barely beat the chargers at the last second. They won't be so lucky when they play DA BEARS!
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Matt Gilmartin 10 months ago
First of all, keep in mind that I wrote this before the season started. Otherwise the article would be very different.
This game will be closely contested. I didn't much of the Colts-Bears game, all I know is that the Bears thoroughly outplayed the Colts. The Colts didn't do well last week. I don't know why. All I know is that the Colts simply got beat. I commend the Bears for a great opening performance, and I look forward to playing them this week.
But don't for a second say that the Panthers got lucky! If you had seen any of the game except for the last play (which I doubt you saw, either), you would easily be able to see that the Panthers outplayed the Chargers for almost all of the game. We dominated in the first half, and the Chargers stayed in the game because the refs seemed unwilling to call anything against them and because we couldn't quite finish off a few drives in the first half that definitely could have resulted in touchdowns for us.
On that last drive, if Delhomme hadn't done such a great job of carrying out the two-minute drill, we wouldn't have had the chance to win it. Also the Chargers had everyone except the defensive linemen in the end zone on the last play waiting to defend any pass, but Delhomme made a perfect throw through two DBs to Rosario in the back of the end zone. On top of that Rosario really had to get up to make the catch over the defenders.
Say what you want, but the Panthers deserve to be 1-0.
We'll just see what Sunday's game turns out, huh?
Just as a side note, I had a couple of obnoxious Chargers fans comment on my preview of that game saying that the Panthers would be lucky to gain so much as a yard offensively and keep the Chargers under 50 defensively, and look how that turned out. Right now, if the Panthers end up beating the Bears, you're looking to get the same treatment they got—their arrogance stuffed right back in their faces.
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