00:00The Bears are everybody's hot pick this season.
00:02That's it.
00:03It's as simple as that.
00:04Everyone thinks Ben Johnson in his second year is going to get this team over the hump.
00:08They were very close last year.
00:10Caleb Williams' numbers, honestly staggering when you look at how good they were.
00:15I think people just simply forgot how good he was, but of course made some mistakes,
00:19and I think that cost them a little bit.
00:20Boy, they got a great wide receiving core.
00:23Burden, Odunze, Odunze seems to be playing today.
00:26Just signed their running back.
00:28I don't know if they can play defense at all, Joe.
00:30But they're three-point road favorites this week at Carolina.
00:34That's not something you see very often from the Chicago Bears.
00:36A road favorite from them in the last 10 years to start a season.
00:40Nothing against Carolina, by the way, too.
00:42I do think the Panthers are probably going to be improved as well.
00:47So, Joe, if the Bears are going to win the Super Bowl, they certainly don't have to win this week.
00:51I get that.
00:52It's a long season.
00:53But are you drinking the Bears Kool-Aid that this is it with those offensive weapons going into the season?
01:01I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid because I think the defense is where I'm struggling here with the Bears.
01:07Look, they lost a lot of pieces in secondary last.
01:09Look, Kevin Byard's gone, right?
01:11He led the league in interceptions last year.
01:13So much of the Bears' success was the turnover ratio.
01:15That's not always sticky year over year.
01:17Also, they won all the close games.
01:19Remember a couple years ago where the Kansas City Chiefs won every game by less than three points?
01:23So, they got to the Super Bowl and they got their doors blown off.
01:25And the next year, it all overcorrected the other way.
01:27And they kept losing every game by three points.
01:30That's typical of the NFL, especially year over year.
01:32The bounces of the ball don't always go your way.
01:34And all of them did last year for the Bears.
01:36I think the Bears are still going to be towards the top of this division.
01:39They're still going to be a playoff team.
01:40But in this particular matchup today, I'd be looking for the home underdog to cover.
01:45I'd be looking for the Carolina Panthers.
01:46Like I said, the ability of this team to run the football with Jonathan Brooks and Chuba Hubbard,
01:51neither is 100% healthy.
01:53But that's okay because there's two of them here to choose from.
01:55And you can ride the hot hand if there is one.
01:57Then you've also got Jalen Coker in this mix, too.
01:59And Coker, who has got the opportunity to go against a secondary that's a little beaten up
02:05to help out what you saw last year where Ted O. McMillan really just flourished
02:09in the latter half of the season there, winning the Rookie of the Year award.
02:13You've got some more viable weapons here for Bryce Young to use.
02:16So I like the other side of this one here.
02:19I'm actually on the Panthers to cover.
02:21I'm not saying they're going to win outright.
02:22I think this game is going to be a little bit tighter than the Bears fans want it to be
02:25in Week 1.
02:27Yeah, I am one of those people that shockingly is on the Bears bandwagon.
02:33I don't know what's going to happen in Week 1.
02:34But my fantasy teams would show you that I was heavily invested in the quarterback,
02:40in the tight end, in the receiver.
02:42I did go in on Ben Johnson thinking that he can replicate what he did in Detroit.
02:47Whether or not that leads to wins and losses still remains to be seen.
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