SHOWDOWN: Carolina Panthers vs Chicago Bears—Will Bryce Young or Caleb Williams DELIVER Game 1?

0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. Hey, Drake May here. As a pro quarterback, I know I can't do it alone. I have to trust my team, and that goes for my money too, which is why I use Betterment, the trusted investing and savings platform. Their automated investing tools always have my back, just like my old line. Over a million people already trust Betterment to build their wealth, so I know I'm in good company. Building yours at Betterment.com or Download the App. Investing involves risk. Performance not guaranteed. Paid client ad. Views may not be representative. See App Store and Google Play reviews. Learn more at Betterment.com slash ambassadors. Today's episode is brought to you by the Dell XPS. I'm Wes Goldberg from Lockdown NBA Daily and Lockdown Heat. So what does it feel like to have a better laptop like the Dell XPS powered by Intel Core? With a premium design that's thin and light, it feels smooth. With a responsive touch screen, it feels fast and precise. And with long lasting battery life, it feels like non-stop energy with a laptop that can

1:01keep up. Built for those who want better, the Dell XPS. Built for you. Week one has finally arrived. It's Panthers Bears right here on this Lockdown NFL crossover Thursday. You are locked on NFL crossover part of the Lockdown podcast network. We're team every day. Welcome into another edition of the Lockdown Panthers and the Locked on Bears podcast. We are back for another locked on NFL crossover Thursday. The first one of the 2026 NFL regular season. I'm Julian Council the host of the Lockdown Panthers. He is Lauren Cox. Of the Locked on Bears. And of course, we're going to break down the week one matchup between the Panthers and the Bears this Sunday in uptown. Charlotte will tell you what each team must do to win the game on Sunday.

2:04We'll take a look at some of the key matchups that will decide the game. But first, Lauren, let's talk about the biggest storyline for each team heading into week one. What is that for the Bears? Yeah, I think for Chicago, it's all about how they're going to bounce back defensively, starting in this week one game. There's a kind of an understanding that Ben Johnson in year two with Caleb Williams that the offense should be some amount of fine, maybe not a mid season form yet, but they'll be able to get their job done. But defensively, they've already had a couple of injuries in the secondary that they're dealing with safety Kobe Bryant and slot cornerback Kyler Gordon, you know, on injured reserve and physically unable to perform this. You've got a couple of backups there plus a rookie starting at safety and a bunch of changes on the interior of the defensive line that doesn't necessarily feel like it's a ton better on paper. So this is a group that needs to outperform their expectations and the coaching staff keeps telling us, no, they're getting coached better. They're playing better. They're going to be a better team and Bears fans are still waiting to see it to believe

3:05it. How concerned are you about those injuries, especially to the secondary? I mean, Kobe Bryant coming off of a super bowl victory finally gets that payday, like I hate that for him to be injured in his opportunity really be a guy in Chicago. Yeah, that one was the big blow there. We kind of haven't seen Kyler Gordon in a couple of seasons now and he's been dealing with these soft tissue injuries on and off. Where Bears fans are kind of done with Kyler Gordon at this point, but Kobe Bryant was supposed to come in and be the new leader on the back end of the defense. I mean, the whole reason they invested in him as their top free agent signing is because they wanted more versatile safeties for Dennis Allen's defense that I know Panthers fans have seen plenty of over the years, but they want to be able to have those safeties be able to be more interchangeable and versatile and say, well, sometimes they're covering the slot one on one, sometimes they're in the box, sometimes they're deep and you're not really going to be sure who's supposed to line up where. And so he was going to be that mentor and pair for first round pick Dylan Thinamann to try and do a lot of the same things. I guess the silver lining for Bears fans is that the injury was early enough that they've

4:05had a lot of time to get someone else up to speed as opposed to going through all of training camp in the preseason. But I still think there's going to be some nerves about 10 million and Xavier LeGet this week, you know, just making sure that hey, can this bear secondary hold up a little bit better this year than they did last year? And I think they're leaning on a healthy Jalen Johnson to try and beat the difference there. Yeah, we are all too familiar with Dennis Allen as the head coach and also being the DC for many years down there in New Orleans. Dave Canales actually asked him on Wednesday at his press conference about his impressions of the Bears and he brought up Dennis Allen's defense and his high praise for that. That he of course faced when he was the coordinator a couple years ago in Tampa. And I forgot Dylan Thinamann is up there in Chicago. That will be one that Panther fans are certainly watching as there's all the fans who wanted to see potentially. They'd been be the pick at safety at 19th overall and said they're going to be starting rookie offensive tackle Monroe Freeling. They took with the 19th pick at right tackle on Sunday. We'll talk about that later on with some key matchups. But for Carolina, obviously the big storyline for both teams at its week one.

5:06Here we go. Football is finally back. But for the Panthers, can they get off to a strong start? They have not won an opener since 2021. That was versus the Jets, which it's the Jets. So there's not really anything you should do other than win those games. And that was also Sam Donald's first start as a Panther and Zach Wilson's NFL debut. That tells you just how long ago that was the last time Carolina won a game in week one. You look at the last couple of seasons. The last two years under Dave Canales, they have gotten in bear. So it was 26 to 10 last year against Jackson on the road. It was 47 to 10 at New Orleans. And canals is first game in Carolina, 24 to 10. And Bryce Young's first game in Atlanta back in 2023. Then they were closed when Baker Mayfield was here losing 26 to 24 in his revenge game against the Cleveland Browns. Can they get off to a strong start? We asked Dave Canales about that on Wednesday. And he said he didn't want to make anything out of one game. He wanted to treat him all equally. And he was not going to go overboard with that. But I have to imagine that he's going to sleep a whole lot easier on Sunday night if

6:09they're able to get that win. And he says that after we talked to, I wasn't there for an a missed out portion of it, but the media spoke to Panther's owner, David Tepper, about the state of the organization and Tepper saying that they need to start fast. So the owner saying, start fast, Canales said, don't get me wrong. I want to win this game, but he does not want to take too much or make too much out of one game. And certainly I think for the Panthers, can they get off the mat and actually have a strong start to the season after not doing that over the last couple of years? Now, I want to ask you this, these teams are going to forever be linked because of that trade that Carolina made back in 2023 to go get bright, shung number and overall. And then the Panther struggle. And that resulted in Chicago go get number one pick in 2024. No, the Panthers did not trade away the number one overall pick because they don't expect that they were going to be the worst team in the league in 2023. Where are Bears fans now with Caleb and with all that came from that? Because I know a couple of years ago when the Panthers played the Bears, Bryce was actually benched for that game and Bears fans are saying, hey, thanks Carolina for the draft pick.

7:13We're Bears fans at now with that massive trade made a couple of years ago. Yeah, I mean, ultimately, Bears fans are, I think, always going to feel like they got the better end of that deal because you ended up with getting the number one overall pick again the next year, not necessarily planning to, but because it played out that way. But I think there's some frustration with Bears fans feeling like maybe they didn't get enough out of the, like from their general manager out of the draft picks they did get from Carolina. And obviously DJ Moore was great here for a couple of seasons, but you move on from him for a second round pick. And I don't know, there's a little bit of like lingering disappointment. They're not in like, oh, they could have gotten more, should have gotten more in the Bryce Young trade, but just like a, did they do a good enough job of maximizing all of the resources that they had here? And Ben Johnson was even asked about this, this, this past week. And he kind of made the point too. Like, if Bryce Young is a franchise quarterback for the Carolina Panthers, then that deal is worth it for them. Like if both teams leave this getting their franchise guy for the next 10 to 15 years, then it's a win-win and that's okay. There's going to have to be a big winner or loser.

8:13And ultimately finding your quarterback of the future is what's most important here for both franchises. Yeah, we've seen with Houston, trained to Sean to Cleveland, giving up a bunch of picks, the Browns did, that did not work out. We saw Russell Wilson go from Seattle to Denver, that did not work out. At least for Carolina, it's headed in the right direction for Bryce Young. But it's hard for me to sit here and say that they made the right decision. It's not just that they moved up to get Bryce. It's awesome. They gave up Christian McCaffrey to get some of the picks that they sent to Chicago to get Bryce Young, to give up DJ Moore to get Bryce Young and then gave him no receivers that first season. He's gotten better, but it feels difficult for him to ever really reach that potential and reach the expectations that one would have. When you give up the farm, you go get one singular player. But they're on his playoff team last year and they have high hopes to be a playoff team again this season. So certainly they're feeling good about their decision at this point in time, about that trade made a couple of years ago. And so is Chicago, even if it sounds like there's a little bit of what could have been with some of those picks made by the general manager Ryan Pol.

9:14So those are the big storylines heading in the week one. What about the key matchups that will decide this game on Sunday? What's up about that here in just moment on this locked on NFL crossover Thursday edition of locked on Panthers and locked on bears. Football is finally back in that means Sundays are about to get a whole lot more interesting. Every week brings new matchups, break out players, big performances and plenty of storylines to follow. And if you like getting even more engaged with the players in stats you're watching, there's a new way to make game day more exciting. Price picks is bringing out its best offer yet for kickoff new users who sign up. You can get $150 in lineups if they win their first $5 lineup and price picks is now available nationwide or price picks. You're building daily fantasy linux by choosing two to six players and selecting more or less under projected stats like passing yards, rushing yards or fantasy score. I've got my eye on two players this season one from the Panthers, one for the fairs, 10 aeromic millen for the Panthers and Roma dunes. For Chicago, I think both those guys got really big season.

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11:18always sell low with quote, try quote for free plus get 20% off your first six months. When you go to quote.com slash locked on in F L, that's q u o dot com slash locked on in F L. Back here on this locked on NFL crossover Thursday, Julian council host of locked on Panthers, Lauren Cox, host of locked on bears picking down the week one match up between Carolina and Chicago soon to I guess be ham and hate that. Honestly for the city of Chicago, finally visited last summer and it was awesome. Great stadium location. I've read about the logistics. I know we have to really get into it. I just think it's like absurd that they're not going to find a way to keep it at least in Illinois, but not being in downtown Chicago. That sucks Lauren. I'm sure you've talked plenty about it. The jury is still out on that as much as the bears make it sound like they're for sure going to happen. There's still a lot of conversations happening in Illinois and that's like you said, oh, no, they're podcasts, but don't don't get your Indiana bears. Jersey's purchased just yet. Yeah. God Indiana just I can't say the word that they're doing to get that team.

12:20So I will move on to the biggest matchups. So that will decide the game potentially on Sunday. Give me a match up when looking at it for Chicago's offense versus Carolina's defense that you're looking out for on Sunday, Lauren. Yeah, I think for bears fans, there's a lot of, we'll say trepidation or fear or just kind of nervousness is probably the way to settle on left tackle, Brexton Jones. They had a left tackle battle throughout training camp and the preseason Jones was their week one starter last year. So it's not a huge surprise that he got the job again this year, but you know, he dealt with injuries for most of of last season that had him play very poorly and led to his eventual benching. And so there's sort of this like question again of how long will he last as they're starting left tackle. So I look at that matchup with somebody like Jalen Phillips coming into Carolina this year. And I know, you know, they'll move guys around a little bit back and forth there, but I'm worried about that blindside for Caleb Williams in particular. He looks to be the potential weak link on the offensive line and we're just, he might be fine, but we just haven't seen him play at a high enough level in a while to really,

13:24truly trust that. And the bears will help him out with tight ends over there and those slide protections and roll out the pocket away from them. They're not just going to leave him one on one on island. But there are going to be plays when it's third down and you need him one on one and he needs to be able to hold up and also he tends to struggle a little bit more of a run blocker too. And you need to be able to run and not just to the left side and not just be a totally right handed running game. So that's one that I've got circled right away for this matchup. I'm glad you brought that up because I wanted to ask you Ozzy, Trapila is listed at least on the depth chart. How official how unofficial it is. We don't know. I guess we kind of do have an idea. But he's listed behind him. So I know he ruptured his Patelertend and the same night that Iki Kwan ruptured his Iki is obviously not back. He's on pop going to be out at least the first four weeks of the season can come back week six potentially in Philadelphia. So Trapila, would he be the next option is he's not expected to play I guess much on Sunday? Correct. He's not expected to be ready to play although he was limited in practice on Wednesday, which is pretty miraculous for how recently that Patelertend and injury happened.

14:29This whole recovery has been way faster than the bears, excel expected, but they've basically admitted like no, he's not going to be ready to play as soon as this week, but the sooner he's ready to play, the shorter that leash becomes on Braxton Jones. But for now, I think the backup would be Theo Bennett at their swing tackle and I don't expect Ozzy, Trapila will be active on game day. Okay. Because a lot of Panther fans were asking when they saw, I think it was Shepter who broke the news that Trapila had been activated and was out at camp again for Chicago. It's like, oh, wait, look, he got injured the same night hours after Iki. Maybe Iki will be back and of course Iki's not back. So that's good to know as far as I mean, good for him. He's recovering really well, but good to know that it's still a little bit of time and maybe Panther fans can calm down a little bit as far as all there guys not ready, but Chicago's guy has seen to be ready, but not yet ready enough. But I'm glad you brought up that match up because I actually had there in down for my Panthers defense matchup versus the Chicago offense matchup. And it's not actually Jalen Phillips who I'm focused on.

15:30Jalen Phillips, primarily at least in the nine snaps we saw in the preseason and what I also saw throughout training camp played on the left side on the right side going against the left tackle would end up being Prince Lumaumiela who has to step up in place of the injured Pat Jones who's dealing with a back injury and that for Panther fans is concerning as Pat Jones missed all but four games last year because of a back injury. This is unrelated to the disc surgery had last season that kept him out and actually had him thinking he may not be able to play ever again. He's listed as week to week in Dave Canal Center and expecting to play on Sunday. He's not going to play to not practice on Wednesday afternoon at Nick Scorton of course their second rounder from last year, second year player. He's out for the season with torn ACL. So, princely your third round or last year, you get opportunities, you wanted more opportunities. This season said the Panthers didn't need to go out there and get a high level pass frustrously like they did in Jalen Phillips. Here is your opportunity week one at home against Chicago up against the guy in Bracks and Jones who was in the Lauren and was in the people out there cover the bears.

16:33There is some concern and I felt like the addition of Phillips was going to leave people like Ben Johnson, a play caller and head coach concerned about what the Carolina Panthers now have off the edge. Last year, I don't think anybody was concerned about DJ one or about Pat Jones or princely or Nick Scorton as rookies. You're prior to that. I don't think anybody was concerned about Jadevee on Clowney who's never been what we thought he was going to be. Miles Gary is kind of what I thought Jadevee on Clowney may be in the NFL. That's never happened. So, they haven't had anybody who's been a threat since Brian Burns left and even Brian Burns. There were some issues in his game like run stopping and then he wasn't always the most consistent edge rusher. I think they can finally have that in Jalen Phillips and that you'll be able to open up things for guys like princely on Sunday against a player like you're mentioning in Braxton Jones. That is my key match up for the Panthers defense versus Chicago's offense on Sunday. What about the Bears defense versus the Panthers offense? What's a match up you're looking out for on Sunday afternoon? Yeah, I really want to see good on good with Jalen Johnson going up against Ted McMillan

17:37one on one. I'm really curious to see if Dennis Allen puts him shadowing him across the formation when he moves him left to right or if Dave can Alice is able to move him around to get better matchups for him because last year Jalen Johnson was hurt quite a bit kind of in and out of the lineup and didn't look like himself didn't really play like himself didn't have that confidence and that swagger out there. But he has had maybe the best preseason training camp of his career so far is really dialed in and feeling 100% good to go and Bears fans are expecting like Pro Bowl caliber shut down cornerback Jalen Johnson to be back out on the field. So, if he can potentially erase a receiver like Ted McMillan and force the Panthers to distribute the ball elsewhere that can absolutely swing the game plan for Dave can Alice on their side. Whereas if either Jalen Johnson isn't back to form or they move McMillan enough around to try and kind of pick and choose their matchups there like the rest of the bear's secondary is where there's more question marks there whether it's the other starting cornerback Tyree Stevenson or it's going to be some kind of back up in the slot some kind of back up at one safety spot and a rookie at the

18:38other safety spot like it's Jalen Johnson and a bunch of guys trying to figure it out. So they need him to kind of erase one potential matchup there and I think they're going to try and stick them on McMillan as much as possible and make Legat and Coker and the Titans Beach a little bit more. Yeah, and that's the right approach if your Chicago defensively especially with the questions that sounds like they have as far as the injuries in the secondary. And McMillan was the only guy last year in Carolina who was reliable from week one to week 18. Now I say week one to week 18 because Jalen Coker missed the first six games of last season with a quad injury which happened literally the day after they traded away Adam Thielin to provide people like Jalen Coker the opportunity to start for them. It took a little bit but once he got back it was legs on the rim and was back physically healthy. He was really good down a stretch had a breakout performance back in January against the Rams in that wild card round loss. So he's a guy who I think can be a dude for them this year and they need him to beat and he did take some pressure off a team act who of course is still going to be a stud. He's very I asked about just saying is it gets you more excited to play a game like this. He's like absolutely. You'll love

19:40to be able to play an opportunity like this. Can's a team does a playoff team like Carolina was and Chicago but both those teams as he mentioned are coming off of the loss. They didn't win a cerebral. So there's still a lot of hunger for both teams heading into the year. So I'm excited to see what he can do with Coker can do but that's a pretty good match if I'll be watching out for as well. For me, Panthers offense versus Bears defense. I'm sticking to the line of scrimmage man Monroe Freely 19th overall pick gonna start at right tackle because unfortunately Taylor Moatton who's been the starting right tackle last eight season Carolina blood clot was found as long back in June. He's on the non football injury list. He is out at least for the next four games and we'll have to wait and see when he's able to return hopefully sooner rather than later but his health is way more important than if he can ever play football. Again, I think he will in Carolina. I think it will happen. But yeah, that's a concerning thing. It's also concerning that Monroe Freely is now out of stepping into that spot. You're without your top two tackles from last year. Iki Kwanier left tackle. He's not playing on Sunday because he's out of an injury and of course Taylor Moatton as I mentioned, he's out. So it means Rashid Walker

20:40and then the rookie Monroe Freely. Now in the Monroe, we talked to him today in the locker room on a Wednesday. He talked about how he has guys like Robert Hunt next to him and that helps him as a rookie to get ready to go. But he had his welcome to the NFL moment a couple of weeks ago during joint practice with the Texans one of the best defense is maybe the best defense in the league. Daniel Hunter just a complete alien ran through him the entirety of that practice that Wednesday morning. Well Anderson Jr. He got his licks in as well. Carolina really struggled often to line wise on the edges with those guys. So Monroe Freely and going up against Montez Sweat, that's certainly one to watch out for in that game. And we asked him how much he learned from joint practice with Jackson one Houston. He says I have a ways to go. So we'll see how far he has to go in this game on Sunday where he will have his official welcome to the NFL moment and a priest and a regular season game and hope is he'll perform much better than he did in practice. Mind you guys practice, but still concerning in practice a couple of weeks ago when the Texans came to town here in Carolina. So we've told you the top storylines. We told you the matchups are looking at offensively and

21:45defensively. What do the bears and what do the Panthers do to do to win this game on Sunday? We'll tell you that here in just a moment on this lock down NFL crossover Thursday edition of lock down Panthers and locked on bears. Welcome to your most rewarding NFL season ever only on Fandall, how rewarding are we talking more rewarding than a touchdown with time expiring more rewarding than an 18 point comeback. Maybe even more rewarding than an O-Living catching a touchdown. Love me some thick sixes. Maybe more rewarding than the bear is winning cerebral feels like 85 possibly bears fans. What about Panther fans want to finally whistle and baritone trophy. This season Fandall is making the excitement go beyond what happens on the field with the all new Fandall rewards club featuring exclusive offers surprises and more every week. Check out the Fandall app to see what's waiting for you and this week was waiting for you is the bears are three point favorites on the road against Carolina on Sunday. We'll see if that score holds up. There's nothing like a game winning play when everything comes down to the final seconds. That feeling is what makes football so much fun and Fandall is adding another layer of excitement with rewards and

22:47surprises throughout the season. Make this your most rewarding season ever with Fandall visit Fandall.com to get started running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that were never designed to work together one app for accounting another for inventory another for sales and somehow none of them talk to each other. That's where O2 comes in O2 is an all in one business management software that brings every part of your business together in one powerful platform sales and accounting inventory marketing everything works in one place O2 is one platform to manage grow and scale your business the best organizations know that success isn't just about talent. It's about having everyone working toward the same goal and that's true in sports just like it is in business one thing that really stands out to me about this organization is how we got everyone pulling in the same direction with the decision to sign Bobby Ocarake at linebacker it wasn't just one great player or coach it was a coordinated effort across the organization to make it a successful decision. Great organizations win because operations matter and that's why you should get O2 O2 is one platform to manage grow and scale your business try free today at odu.com

23:48so it's locked on that's od o o.com slash locked on. Back here on this locked on NFL crossover Thursday edition of a locked on Panthers and locked on bears. I'm Julian council host of locked on Panthers. He of course is Lauren Cox host of locked on bears taking a look at Fandall sportsbook the bears are three point favorites on the road against Carolina while they're trading at 59% over on Koushi or official prediction market here on locked on podcast network Lauren do tell me what are the things the bears need to do to come out victorious and approve Fandall right on Sunday afternoon. Yeah I think for the bears this is a game all about controlling the clock and controlling the flow of the game that if they can come out running the ball effectively and leading the offense on the field or more likely like keeping their defense off the field as much as possible. I just think this is going to this is a team that's going to have to hide to that side of the ball a little bit more and so you know if they come out and freeing out an offense on the first drive and three and out on a couple drives the first half and give these Panthers repeated

24:52opportunities to drive down the length of the field with good field position like I don't know that this bears defense can hold up for that for four quarters like last year they bailed themselves out with turnovers all the time when those drives kept coming but it's just not sustainable to do that the same way but if they can rush for 150 yards and at four yards of clip and just keep kind of handing it off slow the game down and keep their offense on the field I think that would go a long way towards the bears victory and you can eventually you know wear them down and try and sneak an explosive play or two in there and see the same thing defensively like limit the explosive place make them earn it if they are going to drive down the field it's got to be eight or ten plays it can't be the 50 yard you know explosive pass that gets them right in the red zone and sets up easy points there I think it's about limiting the damage defensively and kind of limiting how much the defense is even on the field well that 50 yard explosive pass play is fairly non-existent over the last couple of years in Carolina so that would be a massive development if Carolin is able to do that on Sunday but they do have a new play collar in Brad Idzik who's been the OC the last two years

25:53under Dave Canal Snally is officially the OC because he gets called the plays as Dave realizes that oh I am not Ben Johnson I am not Sean McVey I'm not Kyle Shanahan hell I'm not even Kevin O'Connell so let me hand it over to somebody who may be better at this moving forward which Bravo Dave Bravo had only one criticism of you maybe a couple but the main one was you're not a great play collar there's a lot of operation issues how it used to be the head coach because you're doing a pretty good job at that tailoring around the team that went two games to eight games making them go to the playoffs and being very competitive in that game back in January I have three things and for Lockton Panther listeners viewers I will go into more detail on these three things on Friday for a keys of victory as we always do but I'm gonna give you a sneak peek at number one for me Lauren Bryce shung's how to take care of the football you look at the weak ones that Bryce shung has had three of them so far he has seven turnovers two picks in each of those games just unacceptable like Caroline is not going to win if Bryce goes out there and does what he's

26:53done over the last three seasons as a banter starting quarterback in week one it just cannot happen and the Panthers have the lost those games to turn over margins of minus three minus two and minus two like you just knock and have success when that happens so Bryce has got to get off to a better start and take care of the football which is just something you would say every single week but when you look at week one especially he has not done it yet so hopefully you can do that on Sunday number two run the ball the Panthers went from being a top five rushing off into the first half of last season to bottom five in the NFL the second half of the NFL season and somehow still made the playoffs although Rico was no longer Superman Chuba Hubbard had his worst year was career in Carolina Jonathan Brooks who will be out there on Sunday and he's tired of us asking about all the injury questions hope be out there he's ready to go he's blessed which is great happy for him we'll see what he can do what Carol on is God I'd be able to take pressure off the quarterback I'd be able to run the football control line scrimmage if they want to win this game and then number three Caleb Williams welcome welcome to the NFL man because you look great last season Ben Johnson great guy to

28:01have for him I'm surprised I'm sure David Tapro probably somewhere drooling in a stadium wishing that he had Ben Johnson who he really wanted to hire for all those years but Ben Johnson's like I'm good I'm gonna stay in Detroit and eventually got Dave Canalis which is worked out to this point in time for Carolina but they got to contain Caleb Williams can allow them to just run around make those plays that he's done out of structure you also got to you know of course he's going to try to do things in structure which how plenty of opportunities that wide open guys like Ben Johnson does just some sick stuff you got to find a way to limit his opportunities not allow him to make those big plays and be what he was last season can we see more of Caleb Williams from his rookie season 2024 than the one we saw last year that's what Carol on his defense needs to do and the Panthers defense also second out of the season wasn't that great so again Panther fans got more details on all three of those keys victory on Friday um do you do predictions Lauren or you a coward like me and say not I don't want to give you guys a reason to yell at me you know I I don't have strong things about it either way I'm happy to do them when people want to but I'm happy to coward out when other people do I will say we'd be we should be remiss for waiting this long in the

29:05podcast at least mention you know like Colst of Loveland and the the struggles the Panthers had with tight ends last season. Yeah big factor in this game that I'll be looking for that you know if they can the bears contact the middle of the field that well in this game they should be fine if the Panthers shore that up with with Devon Lloyd in the middle and the more of and Bobby Akirke back there like if they could take that away that can really swing the match up it's big in one way or the other. Yeah that's a good point um well Ocarake wasn't here until like what last Saturday two Saturdays ago when he agreed to terms and officially got the Carolina last week I think on Tuesdays when he officially was able to sign with them in practice but um yeah look he him coming in Devon Lloyd who was an all pro last year in Jacksonville you look at just his pf coverage grade for over that's worth much higher than what they had last season in Christian Rose Boom who's now in Tampa in Trumbois who is now in New York there's third round pick from two years ago who they waived a couple weeks ago during the 53 man roster cut down so they have gotten better I think at least on paper at linebacker the standard is back you think about here in Carroll on it they've had

30:08sand mills busting can Luke Keekley just got a busting can Dan Morgan a GM at 20 tackles in a Super Bowl back in 2003 technically 2004 was when the game was played they had Thomas Davis John Beeson the standard should be back with linebacker play but before Ocarake got here against Jacksonville they struggled with week one last year Britain Strange was having a day again during joint practice where apparently a Trevor Lawrence had like five or six straight touchdowns um in the red zone period which that's only practice guys don't worry but that's a good point Kosam loved one one of the top 10 Titans or guess a first round Titan 18 you get going to top 10 right a Titan taking the first round last year you've seen how those guys performed the recent years uh Brock Bowers has been awesome Tyler Warren is really good he's one of them and we talked a lot about that back in um April with the Panthers take one and King and to dig he was not on the board I don't think he was going to come to care on it anyways but that is absolutely a match with the watch out for as well anything else you want to add or are we good here are you I mean obviously we're ready for week one finally footballs here it's been far too long to finally have the NFL

31:10back in our lives Lauren yeah really really excited for it I guess I'll wrap up with that you know the Bears also started slow last year uh you look like the Panthers it was the first couple weeks were a little rough they were not on the same page it took a while to get together curious to see if they're now in year two in Ben Johnson if that's all gone or if hey it's still week one for everybody if they're still quarterback and receivers not on the same page with you know just new plays that they put in the playbook and certainly miscommunications defensively like I think whichever team is more you know uh I guess consistent in like not making their own mistakes is the one that I think will come away with the victory yeah I agree man week one it's always a difficult one for teams to get ready to go and certainly with teams barely playing in a preseason for whatever that maybe worth Panther fans certainly will have their eyes on that and have a complaint ready to go if they lose this game and look like they have over the last couple seasons coming out the gate but that's going to wrap up with this edition of the Locked On Panthers and Locked On Bears Podcast for Locked On Podcast Network where you're host Julian Goultsle Locked On Panthers Lauren Cox of Locked On Bears again y'all subscribe and follow our shows for free over on YouTube and wherever

32:12you listen to your favorite podcast and check us out over on the socials as well the meantime be safe be happy be whole as always keep pounding and was it bear down Chicago Bears that what is that what you guys say bear down Chicago Bears will talk to y'all on Friday as we prepare for this week one match between the Panthers and the Bears here in the beautiful Queen City of Charlotte North Carolina Hey NFL fans I'm Brian Peacock and that is Matt Williamson hosts of the NFL six pack part of the Locked On Podcast Network your team every day NFL six pack brings you the latest NFL news and analysis and breaks down all of the weekly action a six pack of takes daily on the playoff pushed in the 2025 season or if your team's in draft mode yeah we'll hit that too all right here every day on the Locked On Podcast Network the NFL six pack subscribe on YouTube or everywhere you get your podcasts