By Joshua Stewart
Twitter: @JoshStewart47
The Chicago Bears ensured their chance of securing a top draft pick by beating the Carolina Panthers 16-13 at Soldier field.
Tyson Bagent, filling in at quarterback for the injured Justin Fields, did enough to see the victory through in a game between two of the bottom five ranked sides in the NFL.
His 162 throwing yards spread the Carolina defence enough to see D’onta Foreman run for 80 yards and a crucial touchdown.
Bryce Young, last year’s number one draft pick, could only throw for 185 yards and no touchdowns as his debut season continued to fail to reach the stardom heights expected for a first overall draft pick.
The victory came even sweeter than most for Chicago as not only did they improve their own record, they ensured the Panthers became the lowest ranked team in the league, getting them closer to another number 1 overall pick.
However, Chicago would end up receiving that pick after Carolina traded it to them last year for the opportunity to draft Bryce Young.
With Caleb Williams looking a likely candidate to become the next number 1 overall pick, Carolina will be wondering if they didn’t make the wrong decision about backing Young as they’re new franchise quarterback.
DJ Moore moved from Carolina to the Bears as part of that trade and showed his old team what they gave up as he finished with the most receiving yards of the game.
The highlight of the game came from Ihmir Smith-Marsette when, in teh first quarter, the Panther returned a punt 79 yards for a touchdown.
with less than two minutes left, Carolina were forced to go for a 59 yard field goal in an attempt to tie the game but Kicker Eddy Pineiro’s attempt could only fall short to give Chicago good feelings for the present and the future.
