Bryce Young watched from the sideline as Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams faced third-and-13 with 1:27 left in the third quarter.
Wearing a wired headset in his left ear, Young paced the sideline as the Carolina Panthers looked to climb back from a 20-point hole.
Williams, the quarterback forever associated with Young in NFL legends, found receiver Keenan Allen on third down, but Allen fell two yards short of the chains.
Young alternated between clapping and high-fiving his defensive teammates as they trotted away before punting.
he was cooperative. But this wasn’t the plan.
The Carolina Panthers didn’t trade two first-round picks, two second-round picks and their best receiver to draft a cheerleader who will be benched for two games in his second year.
Expectations are that Young will throw 11 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, complete 59.8% of his passes, collect 62 sacks and gain a league-worst 477 yards in his debut season in the 2023 NFL Draft. There was no trade from the No. 9 overall pick to the No. 1 overall pick. .
Fair or not, the Carolina Panthers expected Young to hit the ground running right away, just as Williams did this year in Chicago.
Instead, the Panthers engineered a trade that would facilitate the Bears’ rebuild, but Young’s 2-14 rookie season gave Chicago the same No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft as Williams. significantly hindered.
The Bryce Young trade by the Panthers, and what it means for the Bears in the years to come, did not play out the way they had envisioned. (Photo by Michael Reeves/Getty Images)
Sunday was the first time the teams met since Chicago drafted Williams with a gift-wrapped top pick, but the Bears’ 36-10 victory highlighted just how far apart these franchises are.
This wasn’t just a result of pushing Chicago back over .500 with a 3-2 record and the Panthers going home with a 1-4 record. This was about the players who made the difference, starting with the quarterback and one key receiver.
Panthers hurt by losing players
The Panthers fought on their own from the start, trading three-and-outs before each team traded touchdown drives.
But after Panthers running back Tuba Hubbard ran up the heart of Chicago’s generally solid defense for a 38-yard score, the Bears didn’t just find the end zone with any player; He found the end zone with two players he never had. Without Carolina.
With 5:44 left in the first quarter, Williams appeared to have a hunch that the defender wasn’t going to pick up receiver DJ Moore when Panthers cornerback Jaycee Horn threw a man streak from left to right. is. 1 pick.
The Chicago Bear, a first-round pick of the Panthers in 2018, caught Williams’ pass and covered the distance to the end zone for a 34-yard touchdown against a team that had scored 21 points in five years. Achieved.
The Bears pulled away in the second quarter. Chicago twice capped off scoring drives with 1-yard rushing touchdowns, but Carolina was unable to score at all.
With 24 seconds left in the first half, Williams missed a safety to the right and hit just a little. He found Moore in the end zone and scored a 30-yard touchdown. Moore caught backside passes as if Carolina cornerback Michael Jackson wasn’t covered as thoroughly as he was.
The Panthers never recovered from a 27-7 halftime deficit, getting just one more field goal in the second half and even benching Dalton for the final drive.
That’s where Young came in and got off to a solid start against a defense that was determined to bend but not break. Young got Miles Sanders for 27 yards on his first throw, then hit Jalen Coker for 16 and 15 yards, respectively. In the end, a drop pick, short scramble, and fourth-down sack led to a turnover on downs.
Dalton was 18-of-28 for 136 yards, one interception and two fumbles, while Young was 4-of-7 for 58 yards.
Williams, on the other hand, completed 20 of 29 for 304 yards, two touchdowns, and no misses.
Williams also rushed for 34 yards on five carries.