Bears continue to prove that the Panthers' rebuild plan was a smart one

Last year, there was a team that fired its coach and came off a pretty disappointing season with a rookie quarterback. That team, the Carolina Panthers, hired a young offensive guru to be its next head coach and invested a lot in the offensive line to protect that oft-sacked rookie quarterback.

This year, there's a team that has done just that. The Chicago Bears, though not to the degree of the 2023 Panthers, struggled this year. Caleb Williams, again not to the level of Bryce Young, struggled, too. Like Dave Canales, Ben Johnson was brought in to fix the problems.

Bears OL additions so far:

• Former Chiefs G Joe Thuney (4th-round pick)
• Fromer Rams G Jonah Jackson (6th-round pick)

Caleb Williams was the most-sacked (68) and the 3rd-most pressured QB in the NFL last season.

Breakout season incoming 👀 https://t.co/dFsi8KnYds pic.twitter.com/WdajVGD6H4
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) March 5, 2025

Johnson said he wanted to emulate what the Panthers did, and they've done that in record time. The Panthers invested in free agency with Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis to protect Young. The Bears didn't even wait for free agency to do it. They traded for Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson, both guards like Lewis and Hunt, and gave up a future fourth and future sixth-round pick to do it.

The Bears saw that they had a problem like the 2023 Panthers. They had a gifted quarterback who couldn't make throws with any time and was often on his back. So what did they do? They did what the Panthers did.

Dec 22, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers guard Damien Lewis (68) takes the field during the first quarter against the Arizona Cardinals at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Carolina has long been the laughingstock of the NFL, but that's beginning to change. They may still not be the best organization, but their blueprint for fixing an offense has already been picked up by another team. For Bears' fans sakes, let's hope Williams doesn't initially regress and that Chicago doesn't have a league-worst defense, too.

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