Week 1 · Sunday, September 13 · 1:00 PM ET
Why This Game Matters
This one's a family reunion nobody asked for: Bryce Young, the No. 1 pick Carolina landed by sending its 2023 top selection to Chicago, opens his prove-it contract year against Caleb Williams, the quarterback the Bears got to draft because that same trade also handed them Carolina's 2024 first-rounder. Throw in a Panthers team riding its first NFC South title in a decade and a Bears squad that's the trendy NFC North pick carrying the league's most brutal schedule, and you've got two franchises whose whole rebuilds trace back to one blockbuster finally sharing a field again. Both sidelines are already banged up before the ball's even kicked off, which means Week 1 chaos is basically guaranteed.
Real Player Matchups
- CHI pass rusher Montez Sweat (10.0 sacks, 18 QB hits in 2025) vs. a CAR offensive line that allowed 35 sacks last season.
- CAR's Tetairoa McMillan drew a 25% target share in 2025 (+25 receiving EPA) against a CHI defense ranked #19 of 32 in EPA allowed.
Real 2025 season production (nflverse), a prior-season baseline pending real 2026 games.
Key Matchups
- Bears' patchwork offensive line -- new center Garrett Bradbury and a left tackle competition featuring Ozzy Trapilo working back from a ruptured patellar tendon -- against Carolina's retooled pass rush headlined by free-agent addition Jaelan Phillips
- Rome Odunze's first game as Chicago's unquestioned WR1 after the DJ Moore trade to Buffalo, against a Panthers secondary that will be missing key answers up front
- Carolina's makeshift right tackle spot, with Taylor Moton out (blood clot) and rookie Monroe Freeling or free-agent Rasheed Walker filling in, versus a Bears pass rush looking to rattle Bryce Young early
- Bryce Young's contract-year passing attack testing a Chicago safety room that opens the season without its big offseason signing, Coby Bryant, who's out recovering from knee surgery
Injury Report
Coby Bryant · CHI S
Out (recovering from surgery)
Suffered a hyperextended knee, bone bruise and small fracture in an early-August training camp practice; underwent knee surgery and is expected to miss roughly 4-6 months, including the start of the regular season.
Luther Burden III · CHI WR
Out for remainder of preseason
Being held out of the rest of the preseason with a groin injury as a precaution.
Ozzy Trapilo · CHI OT
Activated from PUP list
Returned to practice in mid-August, well ahead of typical recovery timelines, after rupturing his patellar tendon during Chicago's January playoff win over Green Bay.
Nic Scourton · CAR Edge/OLB
IR (out for season)
Suffered a torn ACL during the first padded practice of training camp on July 23 and was placed on injured reserve. The timing, during the CBA's no-contact acclimation period, prompted an NFLPA investigation into the Panthers' practice conduct.
Taylor Moton · CAR RT
NFI / expected to miss start of season
Diagnosed with a blood clot in his lung in late July; on blood thinners and monitored daily by team medical staff, with no firm return timetable.
Series History
All-time: Chicago leads the all-time series 9-4, including 9-3 in the regular season; Carolina's only playoff win in the matchup came in the 2005 NFC Divisional Round. The Bears have won four straight meetings dating back to 2017.
Last meeting: Chicago won 36-10 at Soldier Field on October 6, 2024 (Week 5). Caleb Williams threw for 304 yards and two touchdowns, both to DJ Moore against his former team, while Carolina's Chuba Hubbard opened the scoring with a 38-yard touchdown run before the Bears took over. The win extended Chicago's home winning streak to eight games, its longest since 2005-06.
- · The two teams' only playoff meeting came in the 2005 NFC Divisional Round, when the wild-card Panthers stunned the No. 1-seeded, 15-1 Bears 29-21 in Chicago behind a huge Steve Smith performance.
- · Both franchises' current starting quarterbacks trace to the same March 2023 trade: Chicago sent the No. 1 overall pick to Carolina (used on Bryce Young) in exchange for DJ Moore and draft capital, including Carolina's 2024 first-round pick, which Chicago used to select Caleb Williams No. 1 overall in 2024.
- · DJ Moore, the centerpiece of that 2023 trade, caught both of Chicago's touchdown passes against his former team in the teams' last meeting in 2024 -- and was himself traded away by the Bears to Buffalo in the 2026 offseason.
Weather
Forecast not yet available this far out — check back closer to kickoff. Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte is an open-air stadium.
Records & Rankings on the Line
- · Chicago sits at No. 14 in the power rankings off an 11-6, NFC North-winning 2025 season, but enters 2026 carrying the NFL's toughest projected schedule; Carolina sits at No. 23 after its first NFC South title in a decade at 8-8.
- · The Bears have won four consecutive meetings in this series since 2017, most recently a 36-10 blowout in 2024, and will look to open 2026 by extending that streak on the road.
- · Both teams open the season down key pieces up front and in the secondary -- Chicago without safety Coby Bryant, Carolina without right tackle Taylor Moton and season-ending edge rusher Nic Scourton -- making Week 1 injury attrition a real subplot in the trenches.
The Desk Weighs In
Duke Callahan
CHI -3
Reasoning not yet published for this pick.
Vega Okafor
CHI -3
"Chicago's offense graded out 8th in the league last season, Carolina's 26th. That's not a schedule quirk, that's a real 18-spot gap in the numbers Chicago gets to spend."
Sunny Marchetti
CAR -1
Reasoning not yet published for this pick.
Reese Thackeray
CHI -3
Reasoning not yet published for this pick.
Priest Dunbar
CHI -3
Reasoning not yet published for this pick.