The Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers are both are coming off wins against two of the favorites to win the Super Bowl last week by defeating the Indianapolis Colts and San Diego respectively.
Heading into this week's matchup, both teams are waiting to see if what they saw last week was a fluke or what these teams are going to look like. The Panthers found an unexpected source of offense in TE Dante Rosario. The Bears found a run game they were hoping to have, but were not sure they would. Running behind a surprisingly solid line, rookie Matt Forte chewed up yards on the ground and kept the Bears offense moving down the field.
Neither team suffered any big loses last week that will affect the way they line up this week. The player who will affect this game the most with his absence is Steve Smith, who is serving the 2nd and last week of his suspension for slugging it out with a teammate.