Bears Have an Answer for Adam Thielen

The Bears weren't alone all those years after all.

Carolina wide receiver Adam Thielen caught five touchdown passes and 42 total passes against them while with the Minnesota Vikings.

"Thielen has been a really good player for a while," Bears safeties coach Andre Curtis said. "He's been a thorn in my side for a while. We had seen him multiple times, even when he was in Minnesota and I was in Seattle, I felt like he was in our division.

"But this guy knows how to get open. He knows how to find holes. He knows how to read coverages."

So other teams obviously had trouble with Thielen, too.

Thielen has been the player Carolina quarterback Bryce Young looks to almost too much. He has 62 catches for 610 yards and four TDs in 76 targets and no one else has more than 20 receptions.

Fortunately for the Bears, they have the kind of cornerback who can take Thielen out of the game if they use him this way.

Jaylon Johnson is Pro Football Focus' highest graded cornerback by coverage and No. 2 behind the Jets' D.J. Reed overall.

Would the Bears use Johnson all over the field and particularly in the slot to force Carolina to look to other, less effective receivers like Jonathan Mingo or DJ Chark?

None of the Panthers receivers figure to match up well against Johnson, who is peaking at a good time considering his need to get a contract extension.

Here are the other Bears who present matchup problems for the Panthers.

1. WR DJ Moore

Whoever is throwing the passes, Moore not only has the incentive of facing his former team but also has been quiet over the last four games with none over 55 yards and no TD catches. He's due to break out and while Carolina is highly rated against the pass at fifth overall, but the Panthers are rated so high against the pass because they face so few pass attempts. They've faced the second fewest attempts in the league because everyone finds it so easy to run on them. They rank 28th against the run. Moore should be able to get open whoever he is running routes against, if it's Donte Jackson, Troy Hill or anyone else.

2. G Teven Jenkins

He's flattening defensive linemen and linebackers regularly in wide zone, inside zone and gap scheme. It doesn't matter how they block it, he's doing it. Jenkins is fourth among guards in PFF blocking grade and faces a difficult task in going against the best healthy Panthers defensive lineman, Derrick Brown, but if he gets the job done then Carolina is left with little else up front.

3. TE Cole Kmet

The knee injury that led to Kmet designated as someone who would have sat out Monday's practice isn't really an issue. He has had some problem with this the past few weeks yet he had 10 catches and then two TD catches the next game. Panthers inside linebacker Frankie Luvu is a solid downhill type linebacker who can attack the run and blitz but in coverage he is a liability. PFF has only seven linebackers in the league graded worse at defending the pass. It's a time to go for the short middle with Kmet or Darnell Mooney or even the backs.

4. RB D'Onta Foreman

Part 2 of the Bears' "how do you like me now" duo for this game. Another former Panthers player, Foreman wasn't expensive and they discarded him. He's now leading the Bears in rushing with 287 yards in five games with 65 carries, and has done it without a run longer than 22 yards. He'll be pounding the ball at the Panthers but it's possible he could be asked to split carries with Khalil Herbert as the Bears starter is eligible to return.

5. LB T.J. Edwards

He's been close to big plays in several instances the last two games and has 100 tackles on the season from the weakside spot. Matt Eberflus has been trying to use his weakside in various ways, a key position in this scheme, and it's starting to work for the defense.

6. DE Yannick Ngakoue

Everyone says Montez Sweat is picking up the pressure level for the Bears defensive front, so the hired gun pass rusher should have a solid opportunity to get to Bryce Young off the blind side because he'll have one-on-one blocking. He's facing Ikem Ekownu, a left tackle ranked 56th as a pass blocker among 77 NFL tackles by PFF. Ngakoue has gone four straight games without a sack, the last coming against Washington on a Thursday night. He has just two sacks and four tackles for loss.

7. DE Montez Sweat

He'll have a little better knowledge about the defense this week but even then, he's only gone through three practices -- last Thursday and Friday and on Wednesday this week. The Bears schedule is working against a big immediate impact and getting a full week of practice will benefit him after the mini-bye. But against a team that has allowed 29 sacks, Sweat has to be given a shot at some good pressure.

8. WR Darnell Mooney

Momentum is favoring Mooney now. He finally broke through with catches and yardage after the catch last week. A player who had offseason surgery just needed a game like last week's five catches in six targets for 83 yards to regain confidence.

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