The Chicago Bears kicked off Week 10 with their third victory of the season as they downed Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers 16-13. Chicago had some bonus wins that came with this victory, as its 2024 first-round draft pick acquired from Carolina in March was kept high in the order with another loss added to the tally, and the Bears held Young, who was selected with the top pick Chicago traded to Carolina, to just 185 passing yards.
Young did lead a 15-play, 50-yard drive late in the fourth quarter that got the Panthers to the Bears' 41-yard line, but Eddy Pineiro's potential game-tying 59-yard field goal attempt with 1:40 remaining in the game came up short.
As the final score indicates, this matchup did not feature any offensive fireworks. Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent took what the Panthers defense gave him for the majority of the night, completed 20 of 33 passes for 162 yards. D'Onta Foreman rushed for 80 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries, and D.J. Moore caught five passes for 58 yards in his revenge game against the team that drafted him.
Young, who registered the worst outing of his young career this past Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts with three interceptions, again struggled. The Alabama product completed 21 of 38 passes for 185 yards, while Carolina mustered just 43 yards on the ground.
Below are some takeaways that dive more deeply into what went down in Chicago on Thursday night.
Why the Bears won
The Bears defense controlled the tempo of this matchup. Carolina recorded just 97 yards of total offense in the first half, and finished with 213 total yards. The Panthers converted just 3-of-15 third downs, and didn't score a touchdown, as Ihmir Smith-Marsette's 79-yard punt return touchdown in the first quarter was the lone end-zone trip for Carolina on Thursday night. The Bears defense also recorded three sacks and nine QB hits.
Credit to Bagent for being a game manager and taking care of the football, but Chicago's defense came up big.
Why the Panthers lost
This was another tough outing for Carolina. There's no one reason the Panthers lost on Thursday night. The offense struggled to move the ball (213 yards of total offense), Young missed several throws and had a couple of passes that should have been intercepted.
The defense, on the other hand, failed to generate any kind of pass rush with Brian Burns out due to injury, recording a grand total of zero sacks, and allowed Bagent underneath completions all game long. You get enough of those underneath completions, and those can turn into long drives, such as the one Bagent organized right before halftime, going 70 yards on nine plays, which led to a field goal.
The Panthers have concerns on both sides of the ball, which is why they have one win through 10 weeks.
Turning point
Late in the fourth quarter down three points, Young was in the process of orchestrating a long drive which looked promising. The offense converted two straight fourth downs, and was in enemy territory with just under two minutes remaining. However, that's when the drive began to stall.
Young missed tight end Hayden Hurst on first down, missed Jonathan Mingo on second down and then almost threw an interception on third-and-10. Now facing a fourth-and-10 from the Chicago 41-yard line, Frank Reich opted to throw former Bears kicker Eddy Pineiro out on the field to attempt what would be a career-long 59-yard field goal.
It didn't work out:
Play of the game
On Chicago's second possession of the game, Bears punter Trenton Gill booted the ball down the field to former Bear Ihmir Smith-Marsette. Smith-Marsette fielded the punt at his own 21-yard line, turned on the jets and returned it 79 yards for the lone touchdown of the first half.
It was interesting, as the Amazon broadcast showed there was a flag on the play, but no flag was actually thrown.
What's next
The Panthers return to Charlotte next week to host the Dallas Cowboys. As for the Bears, they travel to Detroit to take on the rival Lions.