Bears vs. Panthers Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 1

The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 1 matchup between the Panthers and Bears.

Find a breakdown of every Week 1 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.

Trust = spike production for that player

Bears vs. Panthers Fantasy Quarterback Preview

Caleb Williams

Williams made wholesale improvements in his second season with Ben Johnson.

He went from a 39.8% success rate in 2024 (30th) to 42.5% this past season (22nd).

24.6% of his dropbacks resulted in a gain of 1.0 EPA or more (14th), up from 20.4% as a rookie (30th).

Only 14.2% of his dropbacks lost 1.0 EPA or worse (6th), down from 18.6% in 2024 (29th).

Johnson had Williams playing more under center in his second season.

After a 28.8% under-center rate as a rookie, Williams was at 48.4% last year.

That increased his play-action rate from 16.9% as a rookie to 33.3% last year.

A major hurdle Williams needs to clear is passing accuracy.

He still only completed 58.1% of his throws last year, ahead of only J.J. McCarthy (57.6%).

Williams had a 14.6% inaccurate-throw rate, the worst among 33 passers who qualified for the league's passer rating.

That said, the growth under Johnson was evident as the season went on, providing the foundation for another step in Year 3.

Williams ended the year playing his best football, finishing as the QB7 in expected points per game over the final 10 weeks.

He was a QB1 scorer in six of those games, throwing multiple touchdowns in seven.

He added 388 rushing yards and 3 scores via the ground.

Understandably, Johnson does not want to completely take away the spade that Williams has in creating plays, but getting Williams more comfortable playing in rhythm and from the pocket is the key to another step forward.

We have all seen Williams' highlight plays because they stand out, but he still forces himself into more outs than other passers.

69.4% of his dropbacks stayed in the pocket last year, which ranked 31st out of 33 qualifying quarterbacks.

In the pocket, Williams posted a 97.2 rating (13th) with 7.5 yards per pass attempt (14th) and a 4.7% touchdown rate (14th).

Outside of the pocket, Williams posted a 64.0 rating (29th) with 4.9 yards per attempt (29th) and a 4.3% touchdown rate (25th).

Williams was also still sensitive to pressure.

He has a shaky completion rate regardless of pressure, but he averaged 7.6 Y/A (13th) without pressure compared to 5.4 Y/A when pressured (26th).

That should not be an issue here, but the Chicago offensive line has a few moving parts.

The first is at left tackle.

The Bears started three different players at left tackle last season.

Ozzy Trapilo was a second-round pick who eventually took over the job.

Still, he suffered a torn patellar tendon in the playoffs last year and will be sidelined for the start of the season.

Trapilo took over the job from Theo Benedet, who made eight starts last season.

Benedet allowed a 7.8% pressure rate, which was the second-highest rate on the team, ahead of only Braxton Jones (11%).

Jones is expected to draw the start in Week 1.

Drew Dalman made a surprising retirement announcement this offseason at age 27 after starting all 19 games last season.

To pivot quickly, the Bears traded for Garrett Bradbury.

Bradbury has not been the same player since early in his career, but he started all 17 games for the Patriots last season.

The rest of the starting spots are locked up with quality starters between Joe Thuney, Jonah Jackson, and Darnell Wright.

I'm handling Williams near his ADP this summer for Week 1 as a mid-range QB1.

The Panthers are a unique defense in that they did not generate much pressure or have a wealth of stars last year, yet they did limit passing production.

Carolina allowed 11.6 passing points per game this past season, which was eighth in the league.

The Panthers were 31st in pressure rate (29.6%) and 27th in sack rate (5.6%) during the regular season.

In an effort to ramp up the pass rush, the team spent big on Jaelan Phillips in free agency.

Credit Ejiro Evero and this Carolina defense for finding success by limiting production on play-action and under-center passes, something we have covered as being “easy buttons” for offenses.

Carolina disguises its coverages from pre-snap to post-snap at a high rate, which changes the picture for passers turning their backs to the defense and helps them do a good job against the meta-breaking offenses.

They limited Sam Darnold to 5.4 yards per pass attempt.

Brock Purdy had 6.0 Y/A with 3 interceptions.

Jordan Love had 7.4 yards per attempt with 0 touchdowns and an interception.

Last year, Carolina allowed a league-low 5.6 yards per pass attempt on play-action passes.

On non-play-action passes, they allowed 7.8 Y/A, which was 29th.

Bryce Young

Young has opened his career as the QB41, QB29, and QB26 in fantasy points per game.

He did not stuff the stat sheet again in 2025, completing 63.2% of his passes (22nd) while averaging 6.2 yards per attempt (29th), 9.8 yards per completion (30th), and posting a 4.7% touchdown rate (19th).

He threw for 200 yards in only four games.

Carolina ran an ultra-conservative game plan, throwing the ball 4% below expectations, which was 29th in the league.

Was that by design or insulation?

Over his rookie contract, Young has completed 61.4% of his passes (35th) for 6.0 Y/A (37th), a 3.5% touchdown rate (31st), and a 2.2% interception rate (26th).

In 2025, he completed 42.7% of his throws 10 or more yards downfield, which ranked 28th in the league.

Pair that with 72.6% of his passes going shorter than 10 yards downfield, the seventh-highest rate in the league.

On top of all of that, Carolina has to calibrate around a handful of injuries up front.

Ikem Ekwonu is still recovering from a ruptured patellar tendon in the playoff loss to the Rams.

Taylor Moton is on the reserve injury list with blood clots.

Left guard Damien Lewis has been dealing with an injury.

We should get clarity early this week on his Week 1 status.

On the positive side, the Panthers added a pair of tackles this offseason to hopefully mitigate those losses.

They selected Monroe Freeling in the first round.

They added Rasheed Walker in free agency.

Robert Hunt is also going to be back after he only appeared in two games last season.

It is hard to trust Young as more than a matchup-based QB2, but Carolina could be forced into a passing script, while the Chicago defense has plenty of question marks.

The Bears are coming off a 2025 season where they ranked 26th in passing fantasy points allowed per attempt, allowing 7.6 yards per pass attempt (27th), 11.4 yards per completion (25th), and a 6.3% touchdown rate (30th).

Kyler Gordon (calf), Coby Bryant (knee), and Dallis Flowers (leg) are all on injured reserve to open the season.

The Bears have some new faces, but the bar for improvement is low given their 2025 performance.

Cam Lewis, Xavier Woods, Devin Bush, and Neville Gallimore were added in free agency.

They used their first-round pick on safety Dillon Thieneman.

The pass rush here remains the biggest concern.

Bears vs. Panthers Fantasy Running Back Preview

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