Game Comments: Bears at Panthers 9/13/26

Posted on September 13, 2026 by Tom Shannon

Offense

  1. Terrible start to the game.  A holding penalty on the first play and a fumble on the third.  Carolina ball on the Bears 40.  Carolina eventually scored a touchdown.
  2. D’Andre Swift just looked great today.  Quick, fast, breaking tackles right and left.  His extension might be money well spent.  THe Bears ran for over 7 yards per rush for over 250 yards total..
  3. You really wonder how the Bears can get away with leaning on a tendency like running to the right that often.  2/3 of the time last year and they certainly look like they’re continuing that again this year.
  4. Caleb Williams still needs to work on that ball placement.  He still struggled on occasion to hit receivers in stride, limiting the RAC.  In many respects it looked like last year.
  5. On the other hand, and this is more important, Williams was getting the ball out on time from the pocket more often than not.
  6. Nice to see Rome Odunze catch an under thrown 50:50 ball.  He’ll need to make a number of those this year if the Bears are going to live up to their potential.  Not to pick on Williams for a complete pass but he threw the ball unnecessarily off of his back foot and didn’t get much behind the throw.  The pass should really have been a touchdown.
  7. What an unbelievable catch by Cole Kmet in the second quarter for a touchdown.  I thought it was a dumb throw coming out of Williams’ hand because I saw good coverage off the line with a safety coming over.  But it was a perfect throw and a wonderful catch.  I can only conclude that Williams saw a matchup he liked and he went for it.
  8. Once Carolina started to blitz in the second quarter they did a pretty good job of stopping the Bears with it. They did do some things to adjust and kudos to Drew Brees, the color man, for pointing them out.  And the Panthers couldn’t stop them consistently (obviously).  But some of those were Williams missing the free rusher off of the edge and he will have to keep an eye out for that.  Vikings defense up next week…

 

Defense

  1. The Bears defense continued the terrible start.  A broken coverage that looked like a bad decision by Jaylon Johnson put the Panthers near the goal line.  
  2. There was some bad tackling out there.   The Bears didn’t look ready to play.
  3. Dillon Thieneman did a solid job today.  I was surprised that the Panthers didn’t do more to attack Cam Lewis at the other safety position, who should have stood out as a weakness in pass coverage.  They finally started to do it a bit late in the third quarter.
  4. Nice throw from Bryce Young for a deep touchdown completion against Tyrique Stevenson in the second quarter.  The Bears corners looked like they started the game a bit too aggressive, biting on what they thought was going to be a short throw to let a receiver get behind them.  Perhaps they were in zone coverage and were depending upon help over the top that didn’t make it over.  But it didn’t look like it.
  5. Usually you can depend upon teams going after Stevenson but the Panthers sure didn’t look like they were afraid to attack Johnson this game.  And they had plenty of success.
  6. What really stuck out to me today was the Bears inability to pressure Young.  The hope was that they’d get more penetration up the middle but it didn’t look to me like we saw much of it.  You wonder if Dennis Allen isn’t going to rely more on the blitz this year again than he would like.  He certainly was stubborn about not relying it todayuntil late in the game.  But I can’t imagine that will last unless things change.
  7. Keep an eye on Caolina’s Jalen Coker.  He looks like he’s got some game.

 

Miscellaneous

  1. Ideal kickoff for Carolina to start the game.  The ball landed in the landing zone and then rolled out of the back of the end zone.  The Bears started at the 20.  It’s something you don’t often see because most of the time the returners catch those balls.
  2. Compare that to the Bears first kickoff which was short of the landing zone.  There was anothe rone in the second half.  That needs to be cleaned up.
  3. It was a loud crowd in Carolina.  I found it to be hard to hear Adam Amin and Drew Brees on occasion.  Kudos to the fans of both teams there.
  4. Lots of slipping and sliding going on out there.  It might have just been fatigue in the heat but it looked like there might have been something odd about the turf.
  5. Fourth and a yard at the Bears 20.  The Bears go for it and don’t make it.  You can’t get mad.  You know that’s who Ben Johnson is.  From his point of view, if you can’t get a fourth and one you don’t belong on the field.
  6. I would have bet money that the Bears would be the team to wear down in the heat this game.  But it sure looked to me like the Panthers were the team that suffered in the fourth quarter.  the bears won the time of possession battle decisively.
  7. We heard over and over again about how a physical camp would prepare the Bears to play in 2026.  There was no evidence of it in some major ways today.  The Panthers enjoyed wonderful starting field position and the Bears shot themselves in the foot with five major penalties and a turnover in the first quarter. They had 12 total penalties over the course of the day.  Repeat after me.  “It’s only week 1.  Its only week 1”.
  8. Tweet of the day during the fourth quarter:

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Xavier Woods Looks Likely to Play Safety Sunday

Posted on September 8, 2026 by Tom Shannon

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune tells us what was learned at Chicago Bears practice Monday:

  1. One thing the Bears have to figure out — if they haven’t already — is who will start alongside [Dillon] Thieneman at safety.

Veterans Xavier Woods and Cam Lewis are the options, and there’s a little bit of a challenge when it comes to communication between Thieneman and whoever gets the job. Both have played a lot of ball, but it’s a time-on-task thing. Woods signed Aug. 7, and Lewis spent a good deal of the spring program and early portion of training camp playing nickel cornerback.

“I feel very comfortable with them,” Thieneman said. “They definitely have a lot of experience to help me. And then I’ve been talking to them a lot in the meeting room, like how they see things, and out in the field we’ll talk once we’re on the sideline.

“But I feel very comfortable and able to communicate and kind of anticipate what the other guys are thinking with both of the guys.”

I’d bet money on Woods.  

Woods is an established NFL starter at safety having played 134 games over nine seasons. His strength is pass defense which makes him at least the safe option in that respect.

Lewis’s strength is special teams. He’s a versatile performer, having played multiple positions across the secondary, including slot cornerback, outside cornerback, and safety. But he hasn’t been a starter at any of those positions.

I don’t know if you acquire a Xavier Woods if you are comfortable with Lewis starting for you.  And, unless he’s shown something with the Bears that he hasn’t shown for anyone else in the last seven years, I don’t know why you’d be comfortable with Lewis.

 

 

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Salvon Ahmed Will Be Ready

Posted on September 6, 2026 by Tom Shannon

Salvon Ahmed.

Salvon Ahmed

Phil Thompson at the Chicago Tribune has 5 observations as Chicago Bears enter Week 1:

4. Will the running back room be ready?

[D’Andre] Swift left Thursday’s practice early, but it’s likely the extent of his injury (if any) won’t become apparent until early in the week.

Kyle Monangai has missed nine consecutive practices since hurting his right knee Aug. 16. He’s “week to week,” so his status on the Bears’ first injury report Wednesday will be critical.

Roschon Johnson had only two carries for 17 yards in seven games last season.

Losing Swift would, indeed, be a blow.  But the Bears prepared for the loss of Monangai when they kept Salvon Ahmed on the practice squad.

Johnson brings special teams expertise and he needed to remain on the roster.  But Ahmed is a six year veteran who will be ready to step in if Monangai can’t go.  Almost everyone agrees that Ahmed outperformed Johnson in the preseason as part of the offense.

Ahmed had six carries for 36 yards, averaging 6.0 yards per attempt. He also contributed significantly in the passing game, notably catching three passes for 55 yards and a 49-yard touchdown in the preseason opener. Though Johnson led the backfield in volume with 35 carries for 128 yards and one touchdown he averaged only 3.7 yards per carry and contributed nothing to the passing game. 

But beyond that, Ahmed simply looked quicker and more dynamic.

The guess here is that if Monangai can’t play, Ahmed will be raised from the practice squad to (the Bears hope) backup Swift and all will be well.

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Bears Defensive Line Could Have the Biggest Impact on the 2026 Season

Posted on September 5, 2026 by Tom Shannon

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:

What are the easiest gains the defense can make despite a lack of big-ticket investments this offseason? Any chance the Gervon Dexter Sr. trade is about getting to a baseline competence on run D so they don’t have so many second- and third-and-shorts? What’s the plan to at least be average on D? — @gregfeltes

Having a healthy No. 1 cornerback is the easiest gain for the Bears defense this season. I’ve alluded to the re-emergence of Jaylon Johnson a couple of times over the past few weeks. He was never 100% or really close to it last season, and he looked a lot closer during training camp to being the top performer he was in 2023 and 2024.

I didn’t think that Biggs addressed the comment about the run defense in his answer.

Its fairly evident that the Bears are looking to penetrate more at the line of scrimmage, especially in the interior of the defensive line. In 2025 the Bears recorded 66 tackles for loss as a team. For context, individual leaders like Myles Garrett (33) and Maxx Crosby (28) accounted for almost half of the Bears aggregate total just as individuals.

This matches what my eyes told me last year.  The Bears were too passive in run defense and struggled hit runningbacks behind the line of scrimmage.  It’s fairly evident that they will want to change that in 2026 by acquiring players who can do a better job of penetrating into the backfield.

If they accomplish this, it should help the defense enormously because, as the question writer points out, they won’t have to deal with as many situations where they have to defend short yardage while simultaneously limiting explosive plays.

Of all of the aspects of team play for the Bears this year outside of quarterback, I think I’m looking forward the most to seeing how the interior of the defensive line plays.  I’m not sure that they have the horses to be difference makers as a group.  But if they do, it will have a very significant impact on the way that the defense plays.  These guys could be the difference between a winning and losing season.

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The Bears Did a Good Job of Maximizing Gervon Dexter’s Trade Value

Posted on September 2, 2026 by Tom Shannon

Gervon Dexter.

Gervon Dexter chicagobears.com

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune on the Bears latest acquisition at cornerback:

Physically, Clark Phillips III projects as a slot cornerback, but the majority of his experience in Atlanta the last three seasons came on the outside.

He was competing to be the Falcons nickel back in 2025, but a triceps injury wound up limiting him to one game. The Bears acquired the 5-foot-9, 185-pounder and a fifth-round pick Sunday for defensive tackle Gervon Dexter Sr.

Phillips played in 27 games in his first two seasons with the Falcons, getting 821 snaps. We’ll have to see what the coaches say about how he’ll be used.

“I liked him coming out of Utah in 2023 as a nickel,” one pro scout said. “Kind of twitchy and he played downhill with some juice. Willing tackler and competed and had decent speed. He struggled to stay connected downfield, though, and that’s where his length — his arms are less than 30 inches — showed up.”

I loved this trade by the Bears.  Dexter has done next to nothing in the NFL after the Bears took him in the second round of the 2023 NFL draft as a barely servicable rotation player.  

Ian Cunningham, the current Falcons GM obviously liked Dexter when he was assistant GM with the Bears. So the Bears found the one team in the NFL that might have given them a 5th round pick for Dexter, let alone a player to go along with it.

If Clark Phillips contributes any depth at all at slot cornerback this year, I’d say the Bears got a steal.

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The Bears Get Tough With High Risk Decisions at Defensive Tackle

Posted on September 2, 2026 by Tom Shannon

Jayden loving.

Jayden Loving from chicagobears.com

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune empties his notebook.   He notes the surprises that have emerged at defensive tackle over the summer:

[Jayden] Loving, who spent two seasons at Bethune-Cookman, two at Western Kentucky and finished his college career at Wake Forest last fall, was one of 10 defensive linemen on the initial 53-man roster and the fifth defensive tackle.

He played his way onto the roster with four tackles, one sack and two pass deflections in the preseason. The hope is he can develop into an explosive force on the interior.

 

Loving had 2½ sacks last season for the Demon Deacons. How he fits into the puzzle at the bottom of the depth chart will be interesting, but it’s clear the Bears see developmental potential at a position that’s likely to have some turnover next offseason.

He primarily played nose tackle and five-technique at Wake Forest and believes he can do whatever he’s asked in the team’s front.

Jordan van den Berg, who has been a more high profile development, had 3 sacks at Georgia Tech and lasted until the sixth round for the Bears to take him in the draft. However, he did have 11 tackles for loss.

I’m both nervous and excited about what the Bears are doing at defensive tackle this year.  Neither of these players was high on anyone’s radar going into the draft and neither had spectacular years in college.  The Bears are taking a risk in depending upon their ability to develop players that haven’t shown a lot to this point at other, lower profile stops.

Like the Bears, I like what I’ve seen from these players, especially van den Berg, in preseason games against backups.  Presumably both performed well in competitive practices against the Bengals and the Titans.

That’s good because the Bears are presumably going to depend a lot on generating pressure on the quarterback up the middle this year.  This could offset presumed deficiencies in the pass rush from the outside.

Its goingo the be an interesting year once again for the Bears defense as they once again attempt to overcome adversity in the form of injuries by relying upon the coaching staff to adapt and extract performances from what they have been given.  Its going to require mental toughness from everyone involved.  I can’t wait to see it.

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Another Reason Why Braxton Jones May Be Better in 2026

Posted on September 2, 2026 by Tom Shannon

Braxton_Jones_(240808 N HR150 1097)_(cropped).

I found this tidbit bit from Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune to be interesting.  He notes that Braxton Jones had a tendency to wear down over the course of games last year as he came back from injury:

“I think the joint practices were both stepping stones in the right direction,” Jones said. “From a year ago to now, I’m proud of myself for having better practices and just feeling better after the practices.

“(Tennessee) was a big confidence block in building toward the season and being in alignment with what the whole team wants, finishing and being strong toward the end. It was big for myself realizing I can do a lot of things that I probably couldn’t a year ago. Both practices were very positive. I’m grateful to go out there and execute on a higher level than I did a year ago.”

Those practices in the heat in Tennessee probably really helped the Bears.

I may fairly big rugby fan, and one of the things that coaches will do in that sport is drive athletic performance under adverse conditions, for instance, in the heat of an afternoon practice the day before a warm-up game. This forces athletes to practice perform mentally under adverse conditions both in the practice and during the game the following day when they are tired, and when performance would ordinarily degrade.

The practices in Tennessee probably really helped Bears players in this regard. Forcing the players to concentrate in high heat in a competitive practice against an opponent other than themselves will stand them in good stead during the season in games when exhaustion might ordinarily result in lapses in concentration.  It seems that Jones in particular benefited from these conditions.

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Ozzy Trapilo Might Be Back Early. But Will he be Good Enough to Start?

Posted on August 30, 2026 by Tom Shannon

Ozzy trapilo.

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:

Are the Bears going to be forced to push Ozzy Trapilo into the lineup before he’s ready? So far, none of the above seems to be the answer to the question of who’s leading the way at left tackle. Braxton Jones is still setting too deep and catching rushers. Jedrick Wills Jr., Theo Benedet and Kiran Amegadjie have been inconsistent against twos. — @felicellijoe

What the Bears say now and what they do down the road could differ. But if you put stock in the message they’ve delivered since Trapilo returned to practice on a limited basis, they’ve made it clear he’ll have his own plan for recovering and returning. One thing Ben Johnson said that resonated with me is they want to give him time to build his confidence back up.

One of the things that’s been bugging me about this is th eimplicit assumption by both fans and the media (not necessarily Biggs) that Trapilo is just going to return to the field and be as good as he was before he was ruptured his patellar tendon in January.  His return to this point has been impressive given the initial estimates that he’d be unable to play until at least December.  

Accoriding to a study published in The Physician and Sportsmedicine, though About 77% of professional athletes are able to return to their sport, athletes frequently see a statistically significant decrease in their performance metrics during their first post-operative season. For many, performance does not fully recover to baseline levels until the second or third season following the injury.

It is not coincidence that Trapilo has been unable to practice in 11-on-11 drills ot this point and it would be great to see him geet back onto the field.  But he’s still facing an uphill battle to get back to the point where he was and he may still not be significantly better that Braxton Jones for quite a while yet.

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Evaluating Bears Safety Xavier Woods and His Role in the Bears Defense

Posted on August 18, 2026 by Tom Shannon

Xavier Woods (cropped).

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:

What are the top safety options that Ryan Poles reasonably can trade for? Andre Cisco from the Jets an option? With a rookie at safety, the Bears are very weak at this position and have draft picks and players to fill this gap. — @rgbears69

The Bears still are getting a feel for how Xavier Woods might fit into the structure of Dennis Allen’s defense after signing him last Friday. Coincidentally, that was the day Coby Bryant underwent surgery on his left knee, a procedure that Ben Johnson revealed Tuesday [last week] will sideline him four to six months.

So unless Woods is a flop, and I don’t think anyone expects that, I’m not sure what the need would be to trade for a safety. Teams can find safeties with experience on the street, and no one is going to trade a top-tier safety unless they have a replacement on hand or envision moving on from the player after the season. In either situation, you’d have to pay a pretty penny to get a difference maker.

Woods is entering his 10th season and has started 121 games in his career in a variety of systems. That experience should make him a quick study when it comes to Allen’s defense and calls on the back end. I touched base with a personnel man who was with a team Woods previously played for, and he gave Woods high marks for intelligence and said he’s a good fit for a locker room. If that report is spot on, you’d expect he’s a good player to help out first-round pick Dillon Thieneman. He’s not Bryant, but he is a pro and has had solid durability in his career.

Woods became available because the Tennessee Titans released him just one year into his two-year contract. The Titans primarily moved on from Woods to clear salary cap space and make way for rookie safety Kevin Winston Jr.

His primary strength lies in his pass coverage. During his 2025 season he earned a 70.3 coverage grade from Pro Football Focus, ranking 24th among qualified safeties, and allowed just a 75.5 passer rating when targeted. He also brings versatility, having played both free and strong safety throughout his career, as well as some nickel cornerback in his early days.

His main weakness is his run defense. In 2025, his PFF run-defense grade ranked 89th at the position. He is also rarely utilized as a blitzer, so it is not considered a major part of his game. Over his nine-year NFL career, he has recorded just two total sacks—one with the Minnesota Vikings in 2021 and one with the Tennessee Titans in 2025.

Significantly, Woods missed six games during the 2025 season due to a hamstring injury. He has issues with durability, also missing time with hamstring problems with the Bengals (2018) and the Panthers (2022 & 2023).

I’d say that with Woods in the defensive backfield instead of Bryant, the Bears will be looking for Thieneman to do more in run support and to potentially blitz from that position.  They are also crossing their fingers that Woods be able to put those durability issues behind him and remain healthy.

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The Screen Game: A Missing Piece for the Bears’ Offense?

Posted on August 16, 2026 by Tom Shannon

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune has 10 thoughts after the Bears preseason game against the Browns.  

10b. It was interesting to hear Ben Johnson go into fine details of the screen game, something that has been a major focus for the offense in training camp practices. Salvon Ahmed scored a touchdown on one, but as Johnson noted, there’s so much that goes into a productive or explosive screen.

“We’ve been harping on those details,” he said. “We’ve got specific landmarks. We drill them every single day. I think our defense has done a really good job throughout the week of practice to make those hard for us. So, we’ve had a lot of very difficult looks. Some of our worst plays in practice over the last couple weeks have been our screens.

“I just think it’s a really good job up front, executing the timing, the rhythm, and then we always talk about those screen runners when they get the ball in the hands. We’re trying to get vertical for a few steps and then it turns into a punt return after that. That’s certainly what that one looked like as he was taking it across the field. So, good to see those guys blocking down the field. A guy like (receiver) Kaden Davis, who really is trying to run coverage away from the screen, ends up making a key block, and it’s good to see things like that.”

I addressed Ahmed and his uphill battle to win the third running back position battle in a previous post.

I was glad to read that the Bears have been working on their screen game.  

As I emphasized in a previous post, the Bears won only 2 games within the division last year. And one of those was a miracle, once-in-a-generation comeback against the Packers. A big reason for tha tis the Bears scored an average of 20.5 points per game against division opponents Vs. 28.9 overall against the league. They need to work on the offense to add dimensions to their game to make it harder for teams that know them well to stop them.

The screen play can be a devastating weapon for a team that can execute it well. While the league average for screen plays generally hovers just under 5 yards per play, teams like the Lions, Buccaneers, and Cardinals have all averaged at least 6.5 yards per play and 0.2 Expected Points Added (EPA) per play on screen passes.  I can remember some seasons where the Packers repeatedly absolutely killed opponents with well timed screens.

Furthermore, screens have a high floor compared to traditional dropbacks. Offenses can generally mitigate negative plays while still maintaining a higher explosive play rate than standard designed runs.  It also, obviously  effectively neutralizes the pass rush.

If the Bears can get this play right, it can be a very effective antidote for a lot of things that aggressive defenses like the Vikings try to do.  In addition, as Johnson tries to push the ball downfield, the screen can add a short field counter punch if defenses are leaving an excessive amount of space underneath in response.  It adds an extra dimension to the offense and will be one more thing that teams have to worry about.

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