Bears and Panthers In-Game Blog: Bears 36, Panthers 10 FINAL

Reporting and analysis from Soldier Field where the Bears and Caleb Williams try to go 3-2 on the season with a game against the Carolina Panthers.

DJ Moore scores against his old team in the first half of Sunday's Bears-Panthers game. / David Banks-Imagn Images

Fourth Quarter

• A fourth-down sack, the fourth of the day, ends the drive and Tyson Bagent comes on to fall on the ball and kill out the clock. BEARS 36, PANTHERS 10 FINAL

• Bryce Young gets to play and throws a beautifu pass on the run to Sanders for 27 yards.

• Matt Pryor and Jaycee Horn were tossed and the roughing penalty was on D.J. Johnson after the play ended. For some reason they went for 2 and nearly got Williams decapitated as he threw out of the end zone. Bears 36, Panthers 10

• Pass interference at the back of the end zone on third down as Odunze tried to break free. Actually got hit in the face first before the interference. it leads to an easy 1-yard Johnson TD plunge and a fight breaking out in the end zone. Flags flying. Apparently the Panthers have had enough being buried here. Four flags laying in the end zone now.

• Caleb with his second 300-yard passing day.

• Kyler Gordon with the fumble recovery after a strip by Tremaine Edmunds on a completion and the Bears have it at Carolina's 18.

• Beautiful fake screen one way and came back to a screen to Kmet, a play Waldron ran a lot in Seattle. Got 26 yards to the Bears 48.

• Big Bill eats. Billings breaks through and has a sack of Dalton all to himself. Panthers will punt after a 10-yard loss and after scraping Red Rifle off the bottom of Billings' shoes.

• Panthers move to Bears 40 after a completion and Hubbard run but face third-and-4.

• 59,307 at the ballyard today.

• Probably best that the Panthers keep running and get out of here without any more injuries.

Third Quarter

• Panthers keep collecting injuries. Center Austin Corbett doubtful to return (biceps). Their backup center was already out. Have fun.

• Panthers take over at the 23 after a poor, lower punt by Tory Taylor.

• Drive ends with a dump-off to Keenan Allen and he turns it into an 11-yard gain but short of the sticks after a false start set them back. So they punt.

• Bears 20-8 in first downs, 370 yards to 188. Pretty much domination.

• The Panthers are ... kicking a field goal? Piniero kicks a 27-yarder. Bears 30, Panthers 10

• Darrell Taylor's hit on Dalton forces a quicker thrown and incompletion on second down and Dalton throws short of the goal line to Sanders at the 6.

• A 29-yard completion to Mingo in front of Byard as Dexter was clobbering Dalton gets Panthers to the Bears 10 first down and goal. Bears defense trying to dig in here.

• Tyrique Stevenson called for pass interference when the ball wasn't even in the air yet. Should have been 5 yards and not 13.

• Panthers facing another third down as the clock runs with 4:10 left.

• Taylor Moton out for the game, as well as Jenkins. Panthers facing third-and-6 at their own 34. Dalton converts with a short pass over the line for 6 yards. It's their sixth first down of the day.

• DJ Moore actually drops one but it wouldn't have mattered because he was on the 7. So the Bears settle for a 33-yard field goal, same distance as the extra point he missed. Bears 30, Panthers 7

• Williams clobbered trying to throw downfield, throwing it away after scrambling about 15 seconds.

• Williams scrambles for a TD but Doug Kramer gets flagged for clipping. Haven't heard anyone called for that in a while. Obvious call at the line of scrimmage, too.

• Williams clobbered 5 yards out of bounds. No call at the 2-yard line on a scramble for a first down. Then Swift clobbered trying to score like Walter Payton on a leap. He got to the 1. D.J. Johnson injured on the play for Carolina.

• Clowney ruled out for rest of the day.

• Williams slicing and dicing on this drive. Has hit every one of his top four receivers to get to the 14.

• Kevin Byard with his 29th career interception on a deep ball by Dalton. Bears at their 34.

• Teven Jenkins hurt again, has an ankle injury and his return is questionable. Panthers WR Xavier Legette has a shoulder injury and is questionable to return. Panthers also lost their best lineman, tackle Taylor Moton, to an elbow injury. His return is questionable.

• Panthers have to be happy to get out of that without another score. They take over after a punt at their own 22.

• A holding on D'Andre Swift was not what they needed coming out of the locker room. They were put in a hole and eventually had to punt. Looked like Williams missed Rome Odunze wide open on the third-down-and-long play. So the Bears punt.

Second Quarter

• Wide left. Wind didn't help matters for them.

• An 8-yard completion and timeout gets Piniero into field goal range at the Bears 28. It's a 45-yard try.

• Panthers ball with 27 seconds left at their own 30. They have two timeouts left because they squandered one needlessly. Then a missed tackle and then the Panthers get a 31-yard completion to the 35 with eight seconds left.

• Best play of Caleb Williams' career so far. A 30-yard TD to Moore, thrown perfectly against one-on-one coverage. Better even than the 44-yarder to Odunze at Indy because it resulted in a TD. But Cairo misses the extra point. Five plays, 62 yards. Bears 27, Panthers 7

• Big completion to Kmet on third down for the first down at the 32 of Carolina. Williams could have probably had even more on that one if he threw it better and led Kmet but Kmet got wide open against single DB coverage.

• Williams on second down with a terrible decision to throw to Allen in coverage, nearly a pick.

Dexter with presure rushes the throw and Stevenson is there to knock it down. First down Bears at their 38. And they'll get the ball to start the second half too.

• On third-and-3 from the Bears 37, the ball sails high and off Sanders' hands. Fourth-and-3.

• Finally Dalton with a pass downfield. Hit one in front of Byard for 8 to the Bears 44. Then Tyrique Stevenson nearly picks one off to Mingo.

• Swift with 67 yards rushing and 57 yards receiving. 2-MINUTE WARNING!!!

• Finally, Swift gets to score his own TD on a simple dive behind Matt Pryor at right guard. Ends a three-play, 44-yard drive in only 35 seconds. That's the way you take momentum back and then burn someone. Bears 21, Panthers 7

• Swift run comes down just inside the 1 on first down. Tommy Treble is being evaluated for a concussion for the Panthers.

• A 42-yard screen to Swift to the 1. Perfectly set up and another Panthers injury. Jadeveon Clowney hurt.

• Tremble with a 9-yard catch but is stripped of the ball and Gervon Dexter recovers for the Bears. Tremble also injured on the play. Not to mention that Carolina was blocking downfield for him before he even caught the pass. No call on it but it's the Bears' ball at the Panthers' 44. Give Jaquan Brisker the strip on the play with a big hit on the ball.

• A third-down .J. Edwards prevents a big gain with a shoestring tackle from behind on a 5-yard gain and then Kyler Gordon and Andrew Billings combine on a sack on the slot blitz. An unlikely sack duo if ever there was one.

• They gamble on fourth down and Johnson gains nothing. Panthers ball. Too much fakery and messing around on the play. It needed to hit straight ahead. Carolina takes over at its 39 and now has momentum. There is 4:18 left in the half. Bears with 93 yards rushing, 98 passing but they couldn't get 1 yard when they needed it.

• Facing third-and-2 after a 4-yard pass to Odunze and 4-yard scrum play but then Johnson gets only 1.

• Enter Roschon Johnson and two runs net 11 to Carolina's 48. He made a super jump cut on the first run before powering ahead for 8.

• Panthers defense coming up hard from the secondary stops Swift for a loss on fi rst down, then Moore can't hold a diving throw while being hit on top. Nice pass though. The checkdown artist finds Gerald Everett and Everett gets a first down on YAC.

• Williams 5-of-7 for 77 yards so far with a TD. A 147.0 passer rating.

• Bears at their 30 after a 49-yard punt by Hekker that was nearly blocked.

• Diontae Johnson very slippery , gets away for a 2-yard pass that seemed to be going nowhere. Miles Sanders in for Panthers and gets 3 so it's third-and-5. The lateral passing keeps on going for Panthers and going nowhere. A pass for no gain and a punt with another three-and-out.

• Bears running game is at work and it's making Williams' job easier, even if he has been holding it too long when he passes today.

• Swift in for the whole drive but then comes out and Roschon Johnson gets to power in from the 1 for the TD. Excellent straight-ahead blocking by the full line. Easy score to end a 13-play, 80-yard drive in 6:27. Longest TD drive of the year. Bears 14, Panthers 7

• Panthers return the favor but it's first-and-goal now at the 3 after 12 men on the field. Carolina saw it and couldn't get the timeout called. Then Swift for 2 inside. Doug Kramer in!

• Swift simple run inside gets the first down and then the TD on a 1-yard run but the Bears were called for an illegal shift. First and goal at the 6.

• Nifty footwork on a scramble at the sideline for Williams and a first down at the 11, then Swift powers ahead off left tackle to the 6. Needs to keep running forward, not laterally.

• The Panthers finally stop a Swift run, holding him to 2 but then he takes a toss and does big damage around left end for 18. Great downfield blocking on that one. At the 23, the Bears then turn to Rome Odunze on a wide receiver screen and get 6.

• Recently retired Derrick Rose in attendance and the crowd goes wild.

First Quarter

• Williams spent about 15 seconds running around in the pocket, escaped for a first down and the quarter ended with the ball at Carolina's 43.

• Bears from the 20 and Swift goes right back to work on the ground for 4 but then the boot pass to DJ for 26. Williams at ease throwing on the run. They need to move the pocket more.

• If they can keep that ball in Dalton's hands, they could have a sack festival today. He doesn't move really well laterally. It took him several seconds to gain 3 yards on his scramble.

• Dalton gets back 3 on a slow scramble and on third-and-13, he doesn't escape as Gervon Dexter gets half a sack and DeMarcus Walker joins in. Good punt by Johnny Hekker 65 yards and the Bears take over at their 20 after touchback with 2:11 left in the quarter.

• Panthers continuing to attack the Bears defense with passes to the outside and runs up the middle., but put themselves in a hole with 12 men in the huddle and face second-and-16.

• After our technical difficulties...DJ Moore wide open on a 34-yard TD pass from Caleb Williams to end a seven-play drive, four of those on the ground with D'Andre Swift. Bears 7, Panthers 7

• On first down Hubbard runs right up the middle and no one is home. A 38-yard TD. Bears run defense had leaked for two weeks and it just caved in on that TD. Panthers 7, Bears 0

• Panthers face third-and-2 at the Bears 43 after a short pass and a 2-yard Diontae Johnson n run. They do get the first down eventually on a 4-yard end-around but it wasn't easy, coming on fourth-and-1.

• It's another poor start for Shane Waldron's offense. Panthers with great field position at their own 49 after the punt.

• Bad pass by Caleb Williams short to Keenan Allen on first down and it put the Bears in a hole right away, then he held the ball on third down too long and got sacked. They go three-and-out and punt.

• An incompletion with T.J. Edwards in coverage and the Bears take over after a punt at their 18.

• Panthers starting at the 30 after a touchback and go to Chuba Hubbard for 4 off left guard. They will not hesitate to commit to the run. But on second down Hubbard is slammed to the turf by Kyler Gordon on a pass for no gain. Excellent coverage by Gordon.

• Bears win the toss and defer.

Pregame

• Vikings hang on with a pick on a terrible missed call. Should have been pass interference and illegal contact all at once.

• First team practicing in warmups with Matt Pryor at right guard, Teven Jenkins at left guard. So Nate Davis is the reserve.

• It's been a steady progression from the first game disaster to where Caleb Williams is now. The next step would be some big yardage numbers and efficiency in a win. His net yards per attempt have been 5.12 and 5.93 the last two games and need to improve but they're way above the 3.05 and 2.06 in the first two weeks. He had 6.8 yards an attempt and 7.0 in the last two games and that's acceptable, although to be a better QB he'll need to get up to 7.5. Next Gen says he's getting rid of it in 2.76 seconds, 14th fastest and one spot behind Patrick Mahomes.

#Bears QB Caleb Williams warming up before today’s game. pic.twitter.com/MHAQODb4ex

— Chicago Bears Updates (@chbearsupdates) October 6, 2024

• Cairo Santos brought out the big leg in warmups. He made it from 57 going at the north end and south end. A 57-yarder would be a career high. Eddy Pineiro wasn't as effective. The former Bears kicker who kicks for Carolina missed well short from 54 going at the south end zone.
  

My DMs are filling up with folks thirsty for Week 5 kicker options so you leave me no choice but to recommend the following:

Jason Myers vs. NYG
Cairo Santos vs. CAR
Will Reichard vs. NYJ
Austin Seibert vs. CLE

— Denny Carter (@CDCarter13) October 5, 2024

Twitter: BearsOnSI