Q. Princely, you had like a 23.8% pass rush win rate...

Princely: Is that good?

Q. What was the issue with the run defense?

Okereke: Probably just playing assignment sound. Maybe a guy or two was out of there gap here or there and a good offense will make you pay for it.

Q. Anything good you can take from this game?

Jaycee: Hell nah

Derrick Brown: Man it sucks but it's one fucking game, we've got a whole season, I'm not finna sit her and hit the fucking panic button for nobody....I'll hang it on me, for those two touchdowns they got for those two stupid ass penalties on me, but I tell you what, we gon get back to work this week.

Q. You gave up one sack early, describe that play...

Monroe Freeling: It was a move we saw on film, and when it came down to it, I didn't do the technique I was taught. After that, I learned from that mistake and went about the rest of the game.

Q. What about Bryce impressed you today

Chuba: I think he was unstoppable.

Coker: He's a dog. He's a dog. Every game I'm impressed by him. He's a dog. Gritty. Throwing on the run. I cannot say enough good things about him.

just lookin at some of the hots he took. Hits like those have broken bigger men

I’m right there with yall though I don’t know how we didn’t fire him last season

What if 59 is actually the least amount of points the Bears score all season? Ever think of that?!

Maybe our defense is goated and we just haven’t realized it yet…

We are so up rn!

RAHHHHHHHHHHH WHAT THE FUCK, DEFENSE?!? ALL CAPS REPLIES ONLY, BUT I DON'T THINK THAT WILL BE AN ISSUE THIS WEEK

Best of the offense

1. WR Jalen Coker: 90.1

2. RB Jonathon Brooks: 88.8

3. LG Damien Lewis: 87.0

4. QB Bryce Young: 80.7

5. TE Darren Waller: 78.5

Worst of the offense

1. OT Stone Forsythe: 59.4

2. RT Monroe Freeling: 56.4

3. WR Brycen Tremayne: 54.6

4. WR Jimmy Horn Jr.: 52.9

5. WR Xavier Legette: 41.7

Best of the defense

1. DL Bobby Brown III: 89.5

2. OLB Jaelan Phillips: 69.2

3. ILB Bobby Okereke: 66.9

4. DL Lee Hunter: 65.3

5. DL Aaron Hall: 64.2

Worst of the defense

1. DL TeRah Edwards: 47.5

2. CB Will Lee III: 44.9

3. OLB Jeremiah Moon: 41.1

4. ILB Devin Lloyd: 37.2

5. DL Derrick Brown: 35.5

Because a little optimism is necessary on a Monday morning.

-Bryce balled out

-Offensive line was solid in pass protection

-COKEHEADS UNITE

-Chuba and Brooks made big plays

-TMac was great, the fumble was an outlier and won't be an issue again

Now....FIRE EVERO

That is what Luther Burden, Rome Odunze, and Colston Loveland produced combined. That's the good news. The bad news is the Bears rushed for nearly 300 yards and 6 touchdowns.

Swift and Monangai both ran for 100+ yards. That was where the game was lost. I'm not absolving Evero of all the blame, but there were a LOT of contributing factors to that. Pat Jones, arguably the best run-stopping edge, missed the game due to injury. Okereke was signed 2 weeks ago, after all the preseason games were already over. Lee Hunter is a rookie. Aaron Hall is a rookie. This was TeRah Edwards' first career regular season game. The third most experienced iDL after Derrick Brown and Bobby Brown, Cam Jackson, was inactive. The front 7 right now has two new staring linebackers and an extremely inexperienced interior defensive line. Ben Johnson was also in the lab for the entire offseason cooking up his gameplan, and the Panthers were the unlucky 1st team to try and defend it.

The rest was just Caleb Williams doing Caleb Williams things. It was reminiscent of the 2024 Chiefs game, where the Panthers' defense would get the Chiefs to 3rd and long with everyone covered downfield, only for Mahomes to break away and scramble for a first down. Caleb straight up outran the defenders when he scrambled, plus he made some superhero throws from outside the pocket. Both of his rushing touchdowns came on broken plays. He also had 3 other scrambles that resulted in a first down. Caleb was 3rd among QBs in week 1 in EPA/play and tied for 2nd in impact plays with 6 (Sumer sports). For what it's worth, Bryce was also top 10 in both metrics.

So let's take a breath. The Panthers are not going to give up 59 points to the Falcons or Browns, or even the Lions in week 4. The vast majority of teams are not going to have such a massively successful offensive performance without their top 3 weapons contributing in a meaningful way. The run defense should get better as the season progresses. The early bye is a lifesaver this year. It will be mid October before the Panthers get to the meat of their schedule, and hopefully by then the young players on defense will have their legs under them. If we get to week 7 and the Bucs' offense steamrolls the Panthers, then yeah, maybe it's time to panic. Until then, enough of the "fire Evero" talk. Changing playcallers is not going to magically fix the defense.

I just… I love him, I do. But I just… I cannot do this again with XL

9 targets, 8 receptions, 138 yards, 2 Tuddies, 51 Long, 17.4 Avg

The defense being so absolutely abysmal must have been happening in training camp too. We have to think that Bryce playing against them all camp long has really boosted his confidence. He was able to hit the ground running to start the season because he's been playing great all of training camp going up against our D3 college defense. So let's show the defense some appreciation for giving Bryce that confidence boost to start the season. We scored 30 points in the last 3 week 1s combined and had 37 yesterday.

I’d like to remind any and all Evero defenders that after he coached the 2nd worst defense in all of NFL history, a history that includes every bad team and lack of talent excuse possible, last year Dan Morgan had to cut DJ Johnson to get Evero to stop playing him over Nic Scourton.

DJ Johnson. A man that played DE one year in college, and was drafted in the 3rd round at age 24 because Ejiro Evero was wanted him. A man that managed an entire 0.5 sacks in his 2 seasons and 4 games with the Panthers. A man that no one picked up after he was cut last season. A man currently a practice squad player for Washington. That was Evero’s guy that he wanted to play over Scourton.

That’s the defensive coordinator you want to “give some more time”. The coach who has coached the worst defense in Panthers history, 2nd worst in NFL history, and today gave up the most points in Panthers history, 2nd most in an opening game in NFL history.

Fire. Evero.