With the regular season now less than one week away, the Chicago Bears are finalizing preparation for its road game against the Carolina Panthers this Sunday. The Bears hope to make the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 2005-2006 seasons.
Although football is a game of 11-on-11, certain players tend to stick out in the box score. Here are three Bears’ players that need to have a strong performance on Sunday:
Tight End Colston Loveland
The No. 10 in last year’s draft led Chicago in receiving yards as a rookie last season with 713 yards. However, he only scored one touchdown last season against the Bengals midseason. With wide receiver D.J. Moore’s departure to Buffalo, the Bears will need Loveland to handle more targets.
Bears’ wide receivers Luther Burden III and Rome Odunze are listed as questionable heading into Week 1, so Loveland will likely receive the most targets against Carolina. Fans and coaches are expecting big things from him, but whether or not he will deliver is still up in the air.
Defensive End Montez Sweat
Now entering his fourth season playing for the Bears, Sweat has led the team in sacks since joining Chicago. Last season, he recorded 53 tackles, 10 sacks and forced three fumbles. Coming off his first season with double-digit sacks for one team, the expectations couldn’t be any higher for Sweat.
With the offseason addition of former Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle Kentravious Street, the Bears have bolstered its defensive line even further in an effort to take pressure off Sweat. However, the biggest concern for Sweat is if and when father time will catch up to him. Sweat just turned 30, so there’s no telling how much longer his body can keep up with his physicality.
Quarterback Caleb Williams
The quarterback is commonly labeled as the most important position on a football team, and the pressure for Caleb Williams feels higher than ever. Coming off his second NFL season, Williams threw for a franchise single-season record 3,942 yards, led the Bears to an 11-6 record, won the NFC North for the first time in seven seasons and defeated its division rival the Green Bay Packers in the wild card round.
After leading the Bears to their best season since 2018, Chicago fans are more hopeful than they have been in the last five seasons. All eyes will be on Caleb Williams to see how he performs under new offensive coordinator Press Taylor.
The Bears are yet to have a quarterback in its franchise history to throw for 4,000 or more yards in a single season, and many believe Caleb Williams will become the first. Although Chicago has been able to make the playoffs in previous eras with a run-heavy offense, the passing game has held the Bears back from winning its second super bowl that they’ve been chasing since 1986.
The Bears and the Panthers will face off in Carolina on Sunday, Sept. 13th at 1 p.m. Eastern on FOX.
