Chicago Bears vs. Carolina Panthers: Complete Week 5 Preview for Chicago
Published by Matt Eurich on October 3, 2014
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
Following a 38-17 loss to the Green Bay Packers in Week 4, the Chicago Bears will try to right the ship in Week 5 when they head to Carolina to take on the 2-2 Panthers.
The two teams have squared off eight times since the Panthers came into the league in 1995. The Bears lead the all-time series with a record of 5-3 and have won the last three contests.
The Panthers won the NFC South in 2013 with a record of 12-4 but were bounced from the playoffs in the divisional round by the San Francisco 49ers.
After winning their first two games of the season against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Detroit Lions, the Panthers have lost their last two games against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens.
A year after boasting one of the best defenses in the NFL, the Panthers currently rank 23rd in yards per game, allowing an average of 373.8 yards to opposing offenses. They have been particularly bad against the run, allowing an average of 140.8 yards per game on the ground.
The Panthers’ ineffectiveness against the run bodes well for Chicago’s Matt Forte on Sunday afternoon.
After a solid performance against the Buffalo Bills in Week 1, Forte was held to just 54 total rushing yards against San Francisco and the New York Jets before racking up 122 yards on the ground against the Green Bay Packers in Week 4.
“That’s how we should run the ball,” Forte said after the loss to Green Bay, via Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times. “The last two weeks have been rough. We worked on it a lot. There were some holes out there.’’
The Bears will likely try to lean on Forte in the running game against Carolina if they want to keep Cam Newton and the Panthers offense off the field.
Newton has been slowed by injuries this season but has thrown for 728 yards with three touchdowns. He has a quarterback rating of 98.2 in three starts.
With injuries to running backs DeAngelo Williams, Jonathan Stewart and Mike Tolbert, expect the Panthers to try and throw the football on Sunday afternoon. With the Bears failing to get much pressure on the quarterback this season, Newton will pose another difficult threat to the defensive line.
Sunday’s contest with the Panthers will mark the first of back-to-back meetings against the NFC South for the Bears, who will square off against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 6. It is rare for a game in early October to be extremely important, but with the Lions sitting at the top of the division and the Packers starting to heat up on offense, a win in Carolina will go a long way in helping the Bears stay in the playoff chase.
Here is our Chicago Bears vs. Carolina Panthers preview for Week 5.
