Chicago Bears: 3 Bold predictions for Week 6 vs. Panthers

1. Offense shows what it’s supposed to look like

When Foles took over as the Chicago Bears quarterback fans felt they would see how head coach Matt Nagy’s offense should really run. Mitchell Trubisky had his troubles trying to handle the system as well as reading defenses and making the proper play.

Foles played in a similar system with the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs when both he and Nagy were there. Additionally, Foles has experience with offensive coordinator Bill Lazor as well as quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo and feels comfortable with them. When Foles finally became the starter everything was in place for the offense to take off.

When Foles came in and threw three fourth-quarter touchdowns to win the game in Week 3, it raised the hopes even higher. Those hopes went down in Week 4 when Foles had his first start for the Bears. Things didn’t work out as he struggled to lead the offense. When he struggled again early in Week 5, thoughts of failure again entered Bears fans.

Foles turned it around, though, and made some big plays in that game. It wasn’t pretty, but you could see snippets of why the Bears coaches envisioned with him leading the offense.

Now, with ten days’ rest and planning, Foles should look sharper. With the defense he’s going up against, it should be that much better. The Panthers pass rush has only five sacks all season. In comparison, the combination of Mack, Hicks, and Quinn together have 8. Foles should have room to operate and be able to get the ball to his receivers’ hands.

This could be a breakout game for running back David Montgomery. He started out the season running well, averaging 4.4 yards per run. The last two games have been tough, however, as he averaged just 2.8 yards per run. Again, playing against top-ten defenses tends to make things tough.

This Panthers run defense is nothing like the last two defenses Montgomery has seen. Carolina ranks 25th in rushing yards allowed, 27th in rushing touchdowns allowed, and 31st in average yards per run allowed. In addition, the Panthers have the fifth-most missed tackles in the league.

This Carolina defense is tailor-made for Montgomery. He ranked eighth in broken tackles last season with 28. This season, he already has 11, good for fifth. He could be the leader after this game. It will be great if the Bears can finally have the passing and rushing attack both perform well.

Prediction: Foles passes for 268 yards and a touchdown. Montgomery rushes for 96 yards and 2 touchdowns and adds 43 receiving yards.