Carolina Panthers at Chicago Bears Betting Odds
- Spread: Bears -3
- Over/Under: 35.5
- Kickoff: 8 p.m. ET
The Bears host the Panthers in one of 11 Preseason Week 1 matchups on Thursday night. Let's take a look at key storylines for both teams, complete with daily fantasy analysis and a pick.
Carolina Panthers
Cam Newton and Luke Kuechly won't suit up on Thursday night.
Hopefully we'll at least see the rest of what figures to be a sneaky-explosive Panthers offense. Keep an eye on Curtis Samuel, who possesses the type of tackle-breaking ability to make good use of limited opportunity.
Last season's backup quarterback Kyle Allen will get the start in a tough road matchup in Chicago, although it remains to be seen how many blue-chippers the Bears will be suiting up on Thursday.
Chicago Bears
The Bears haven’t really ever had consistent quarterback play, so Mitch Trubisky’s progress in 2018 was mostly welcome with open arms. Still, he’ll need to improve even more to cement his status as an above-average passer.
- Yards per attempt: 7.4 (17th among 32 QBs with at least eight starts in 2018)
- Adjusted yards per attempt: 7.3 (18th)
- Completion rate: 66.6% (13th)
- Touchdown rate: 5.5% (11th)
- Interception rate: 2.8% (23rd)
- QB rating: 95.4 (15th)
The defense will have to deal with life without longtime defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, but former Colts head coach Chuck Pagano should still be able to piece together a top-10 unit with all the talent the Bears possesses on that side of the ball.
Regardless, don't expect to have many actionable takeaways from either unit after Thursday night.
Matt Nagy isn't allowed to say it out loud. But he's dropping enough bread crumbs that I'm not sure if most of his key starters play at all in the preseason. The Bears are very much taking measures to be as close to full strength on 9/5 as possible.
— Dan Wiederer (@danwiederer) August 6, 2019
PICK: Panthers +3
