Bears @ Panthers · Week 4

WEEK 4 · FINAL

THE READ

Panthers edge Bears by 3

Carolina held on at 38-35 in a game where Chicago dominated the field—441 yards to 330—but couldn't stop shooting itself. D'Andre Swift ran for 173 yards and 2 touchdowns to keep the Bears alive, yet Caleb Williams threw 4 interceptions, and Chicago's 4 turnovers overall handed the Panthers their chance to stay unbeaten at 3-0. Bryce Young didn't need a perfect day; 11 of 31 for 235 yards and 2 touchdowns was enough when the other guy was giving the ball away. The room knows what that Williams line means, and the room knows Carolina got lucky it mattered.

Elise Carter The insider

THE WIDER PICTURE

Team	SRS	SOS	MARGIN	TO +/-
Bears	+6.6	-0.1	+6.7	+6
Panthers	+12.9	-3.0	+15.9	+8

SRS is how many points a side beats an average team by once you account for who they played — beat a good team by 3 and it counts for more than beating a bad one by 20. SOS is how hard that schedule has been. Full table.

Panthers — NFC #2 · division · 11-0 Bears — NFC #7 · 7-3 Playoff picture →

In the MVP race

#1 Bryce Young QB · Panthers · 13.3% of the field

#9 Chris Brazzell II WR · Panthers · 0.6% of the field

#11 Cayden Lee WR · Panthers · 0.6% of the field

The whole board →

IN THE BOOTH

Sephen A. Smith The showman

Caleb Williams threw 4 interceptions and the Bears coughed it up 4 times total — you cannot hand a 3-0 team that many chances and expect to survive, and Chicago barely didn't.

Kayla James The showman · replying

Chicago's self-inflicted wounds cost them a game they had the horses to win — D'Andre Swift was unstoppable with 173 yards, but when your quarterback throws 4 interceptions, Carolina's perfectly fine 38 points looks like a championship performance.

They only ever read the box score and this league's own numbers — none of them has a source, and none of them can report anything that did not happen.

Caleb Williams

Bears

15/32, 239 yards, 2 TD, 4 INT

Bryce Young

Panthers

11/31, 235 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT

D'Andre Swift

Bears

17 carries, 173 yards, 2 TD

THE STORY SO FAR

🔥 Chris Brazzell II has now cleared 100 receiving yards in 4 straight games.

⭐ Bryce Young has not had a better afternoon this season.

⭐ D'Andre Swift has not had a better afternoon this season.

WHAT DECIDED IT

Total yards Bears 441, Panthers 330 Bears

On the ground Bears 202, Panthers 95 Bears

Through the air Bears 239, Panthers 235 Bears

Giveaways Panthers 3, Bears 4 Panthers

THE ROOM Final. The recap is below.

📺 THE WEEK 4 SHOW this game is in the week's show ▶ Watch the show

THE MATCHUP SCOUT every number below is counted from the export or read off the roster — nothing is inferred about playcalling

LEAGUE DATA counted by Madden, and arithmetic on top of it

Balanced Pass 54% · Rush 46% · 31.9 scored, 25.2 allowed

10.9 yds/att 60.4% completions 6.3 yds/carry 344.9 yds/game 1.7 giveaways/game 2.8% sack rate last 5: 4-1

Primary weapon: Zavion Thomas WR — 38% of the receiving yards · DEPENDENCY HIGH

SAPPHIRE METRICS QB efficiency 68 · Aggressive Balance 96 Ball security 52 Back usage 38% QB runs 3.0/game

Most exposed: one-man passing game -- Zavion Thomas takes 38% of the receiving yards

PERSONNEL off the roster — unit averages, best starters only

QB 96 WR 81 TE 85 RB 84 OL 83 DL 79 LB 83 DB 84

Best: Caleb Williams QB 96 Fastest: Zavion Thomas WR 96 SPD 5 at star dev or better

YOUR NOTEBOOK what you wrote about them — private, and never a Sapphire statistic

HOW THEY PLAY the man, not the franchise — only weeks the record attributes to him, this season

TwinDadCardCollector

Panthers · his last 8 games

Throws it Runs the quarterback

Pass / run66% / 34% Points for / against37.5 — 23.5 Margin+14.0 Giveaways a game1.5 Sacks taken5.1% of dropbacks Lead backHollwood Smothers · 8.0/g Top targetCayden Lee · 29% QB carries5.2 a game

CELTICSPRIDE1

Bears · his last 8 games

Runs it One target

Pass / run53% / 47% Points for / against31.1 — 22.5 Margin+8.6 Giveaways a game1.8 Sacks taken2.3% of dropbacks Lead backD'Andre Swift · 10.8/g Top targetZavion Thomas · 42% QB carries3.0 a game

Counted from the weeks each man actually held his team — so a franchise that changed hands is not credited to whoever has it now. Nothing above is a playcall: the export does not carry those, and neither does this.

THE SERIES CELTICSPRIDE1 against TwinDadCardCollector — the men, not the teams

TwinDadCardCollector leads it 1-0. TwinDadCardCollector won the last one.

1 meeting avg 35.0 — 38.0 biggest: 3 pts to TwinDadCardCollector

S2 · week 4 CELTICSPRIDE1 35 — 38 TwinDadCardCollector TWINDADCARDCOLLECTOR

Only meetings Sapphire can attribute to both men are counted — a Madden export never says who owned a team last season, so the series starts where the record does.

MATCHUP ADVANTAGES unit averages against each other — inside three points is a push

Bears receivers vs Panthers secondary 81 v 81 EVEN

Panthers receivers vs Bears secondary 80 v 84 BEARS

Bears line vs Panthers front 83 v 84 EVEN

Panthers line vs Bears front 80 v 79 EVEN

Bears backs vs Panthers run defence 84 v 82 EVEN

Panthers backs vs Bears run defence 78 v 81 BEARS

Bears passer vs Panthers secondary 96 v 81 BEARS

Panthers passer vs Bears secondary 85 v 84 EVEN

TOP PERFORMERS

Caleb Williams QB Bears 239 pass yds

Bryce Young QB Panthers 235 pass yds

D'Andre Swift HB Bears 173 rush yds

Chris Brazzell II WR Panthers 110 rec yds

Zavion Thomas WR Bears 109 rec yds

Ja'Tavion Sanders TE Panthers 68 rec yds

Bryce Young QB Panthers 54 rush yds

Princewill Umanmielen LEDG Bears 1 INTs

Ifeatu Melifonwu SS Panthers 1 INTs

Chau Smith-Wade CB Panthers 1 INTs

🎬 The Game Recap
this game as an episode -- the score, the stars, the numbers that decided it -- and a video you can post ›

BOX SCORE

BEARS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Caleb Williams QB	15/32	239	2	4	0	47	53.5

PANTHERS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Bryce Young QB	11/31	235	2	2	0	52	57.8

BEARS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	BTK	YAC	LNG
D'Andre Swift HB	17	173	10.2	2	0	24	53
Caleb Williams QB	1	18	18	0	0	0	18
Raleek Brown HB	2	11	5.5	0	2	12	9

PANTHERS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	BTK	YAC	LNG	FUM
Bryce Young QB	7	54	7.7	2	0	9	20	0
Hollwood Smothers HB	5	41	8.2	1	0	2	35	0
Chris Brazzell II WR	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	1

BEARS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	LNG
Zavion Thomas WR	4	109	27.2	0	20	47
D'Andre Swift HB	3	40	13.3	0	26	21
Colston Loveland TE	3	31	10.3	0	9	17
Luther Burden III WR	2	30	15	0	21	19
Charlie Becker WR	3	29	9.7	2	12	14

PANTHERS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	LNG
Chris Brazzell II WR	4	110	27.5	1	55	52
Ja'Tavion Sanders TE	3	68	22.7	0	25	27
Hollwood Smothers HB	3	45	15	1	38	18
Cayden Lee WR	1	12	12	0	7	12

BEARS

PLAYER	TKL	INT	PD	FF
Dillon Thieneman SS	3	0	1	0
Jaylon Johnson CB	3	0	0	0
Princewill Umanmielen LEDG	2	1	2	0
Devin Bush MIKE	2	0	0	0
T.J. Edwards SAM	2	0	0	1
Jacob Rodriguez WILL	1	0	0	0
Gervon Dexter Sr DT	1	0	0	0
Shemar Turner DT	1	0	1	0
Cam Lewis SS	1	0	0	0
Evan Johnson CB	0	0	1	0
Malik Muhammad CB	0	1	1	0
Coby Bryant FS	0	0	1	0

PANTHERS

PLAYER	TKL	INT	PD
Ifeatu Melifonwu SS	3	1	0
Tre'von Moehrig FS	3	2	1
Chau Smith-Wade CB	2	1	1
Will Lee III CB	2	0	0
Derrick Brown DT	1	0	1
Jaelan Phillips REDG	1	0	0
Teitum Tuioti LEDG	1	0	0
Jackson Kuwatch MIKE	1	0	0
Isaiah Simmons FS	1	0	1
Devin Lloyd MIKE	1	0	0
Cam Jackson DT	1	0	0
Jaycee Horn CB	1	0	1

BEARS

PLAYER	FG	XP	LNG
Dominic Zvada K	2/2	3/3	57

PANTHERS

PLAYER	FG	XP	LNG
Ryan Fitzgerald K	1/1	5/5	38

RECENT FORM

Bears

W 38–14 vs Vikings WK 3

W 35–14 vs Seahawks WK 2

L 35–58 vs Cardinals WK 1

Panthers

W 45–12 vs Rams WK 3

W 38–21 vs Cowboys WK 2

W 31–18 vs Colts WK 1

TEAM STATS

Bears		Panthers
441	TOTAL YARDS	330
239	PASSING YARDS	235
202	RUSHING YARDS	95
0	SACKS ALLOWED	0
0	SACKS MADE	0
4	GIVEAWAYS	3
3	TAKEAWAYS	4

Bold is the side that won that line. Giveaways come off a team's own offensive rows and takeaways off its own defensive rows — two separate payloads, so they need not tie out against each other.

ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD

0 BEARS — 1 PANTHERS

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