The Carolina Panthers will travel to Chicago to take on the Bears for a Thursday Night Football showdown this evening, a game that will feature two of the bottom-tier teams in the league, who currently have a combined record of 3-14. Two rookie quarterbacks will be leading their squads, one struggling first overall pick and one undrafted player from a D2 school, making for one of the less intriguing prime time matchups for the 2023 NFL season.
Bears Will Improve Their NFL Draft Position With A Win Over Panthers
Tonight could be, as @LauraRutledge would say, a win-win for the Bears. Since the Bears own the Panthers’ first-round pick courtesy of the trade for the 2023 No. 1 overall pick, Chicago would help its chances of getting the 2024 No. 1 overall pick with a win tonight vs. Carolina.… pic.twitter.com/AqSQuOfY2S
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 9, 2023
But there are some things at stake in tonight’s game, especially for the home team.
These two teams have been linked for about nine months now. The Bears finished the 2022 NFL season with the worst record in the league, and had the rights to the first overall pick in the 2023 Draft. The Panthers were an interested party, and they traded away some serious assets in order to acquire the pick and draft Bryce Young out of Alabama.
The Bears stuck with Justin Fields in hopes that he would turn a corner this season, but there is a good chance that the team will look to move on in the off-season, especially given the draft capital that they will potentially have come late April.
In the deal for last year’s first overall pick, the Bears acquired a handful of future picks from Carolina, including the Panthers’ first round pick in 2024. That means that in addition to their own selection in the upcoming draft, they’ll have Carolina’s as well, which would put them in unheard of position in a draft loaded with offensive talent.
Bears Would Have 2nd & 3rd Overall Picks If Season Ended Today
This season:
Justin Fields Tyson Bagent
162 Pass Attempts 110
24 Sacks 5
12.9% Sack% 4.3% pic.twitter.com/3KaIEHhZFS— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) November 6, 2023
Every time that the Panthers lose is a win for the Bears and their potential draft capital, and there has been plenty of that happening so far this year. So while they may hurt their own draft stock if they pick up a victory tonight, the Bears would benefit even further from a loss by Carolina, and would keep them as one of the two teams in the NFL with fewer than two wins.
As it stands today, before the game’s action gets underway, the Arizona Cardinals would have the first overall pick. Chicago would be picking second in lieu of the Panthers, and then third overall with their own selection.
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