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Bears aim to continue road success against Panthers

Oct 5, 2014 - 11:39 AM (SportsNetwork.com) - If home is where the heart is, the Chicago Bears aren't pining for the Windy City these days.

The Bears will attempt to stay perfect on the road this weekend when they visit Cam Newton and the reeling Carolina Panthers.

It's been a bit of a Bizarro World for Marc Trestman's team during the first quarter of the 2014 season as the Bears have won both of their road outings while losing two at Soldier Field, the last of which was a 38-17 implosion at the hands of Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers last weekend.

Rodgers, of course, told the Green Bay Packers' fans to relax leading up to that game, but it was the Chicago defense which ended up kicking its shoes off as Rodgers threw for 302 yards and four touchdowns -- two each to Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb -- and amassed a gaudy 151.2 passer rating.

The Packers scored on their first six possessions of the game while piling up 358 yards of offense versus the paltry 223, their lowest total in five years, a week earlier in a 19-7 loss at Detroit.

Cobb finished with seven receptions for 113 yards and Nelson had 10 for 108 as the Packers won by three TDs despite surrendering 496 yards thanks in large part to the errors of Rodgers' counterpart with the Bears, Jay Cutler.

Cutler threw two key interceptions in the third quarter and also made the cardinal mistake of throwing the football to Martellus Bennett in the middle of the field without any timeouts in the waning seconds of the first half.

Bennett appeared to possibly reach the ball across the goal line but then bobbled it as he brought it back to his body, keeping the Pack on top at intermission and what turned out to be a major momentum swing.

Cutler threw for 256 yards with two touchdowns to go along with the two picks for Chicago, which has lost eight of its last nine meetings with Green Bay.

Bennett had a monster game in defeat, catching nine passes for 134 yards. Matt Forte ran for a season-high 122 yards on 23 carries, while Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery each caught touchdown passes.

"It's always hard to go on the road, especially in the NFL, coast-to-coast and win two games," Forte said. "For us to drop two games at home, that leaves a bad taste in your mouth."

The game also marked just the second time in NFL history that neither team punted the ball.

"It's early in the season," Cutler said. "We have a lot of football left to play."

Carolina, meanwhile, saw a ghost from its past last weekend as Steve Smith Sr. delivered big against his old team, hauling in two touchdown passes to help the Baltimore Ravens crush the Panthers 38-10.

Smith, who spent the first 13 seasons of his illustrious career with Carolina, took jabs at his former quarterback Cam Newton leading up to the game. He backed it up by making seven catches for 139 yards, while Newton was subpar for a second straight week guiding Carolina's offense.

"I'm 35-years-old and I ran around those guys like they were schoolyard kids," said Smith.

Playing through various injuries, Newton threw for 197 yards and a touchdown on 14-of-25 passing, but struggled in the second half as the game got away from the Panthers.

"I don't feel like I've played good enough football yet," Newton said. "If I felt that way, we'd be 4-0 right now."

To make matters worse for the Panthers, running back DeAngelo Williams left the game in the second quarter with an ankle injury. He and Darrin Reaves gained only 60 total yards on 23 carries.

The Bears and Panthers have met just seven times previously with Chicago holding a 5-2 advantage in the series, including a 23-22 win in the last encounter on Nov. 28, 2012. Bears cornerback Tim Jennings had two interceptions in that one and Marshall adding nine catches for 98 yards.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

The Bears go as Cutler goes and the veteran QB has been much better on the road early this season. He has amassed a 63.9 completion percentage with six TDs and no interceptions as the visitor for a 106.3 passer rating versus four TDs and four picks at home and a 84.7 rating.

In theory finding the running game should help but that didn't work against Green Bay because the Packers are so explosive offensively and beat the Bears in a run-and-gun game. Carolina, on the other hand, doesn't possess the same kind of explosiveness, meaning another big game from Forte will mean far more in this kind of environment.

Forte, meanwhile, generally excels against the Panthers, averaging 6.3 yards per rush in four games. He also exploded for 166 yards and two TDs the last time Chicago visited the Tar Heel State, a 23-6 win Oct, 10, 2010.

Carolina, meanwhile, has struggled defending the run, surrendering 140.8 yards on the ground per game, a stark contrast from its second place finish a year ago when the defense let up under 90 yards per game.

That lack of run defense has spurned a slump on defense overall and the Panthers have allowed 75 points over the past two weeks after giving up a total of 21 in the first two games.

"Stopping the run is simple," Panthers star linebacker Luke Kuechly said. "If you're not in your gaps, they are going to rush you. If you're in your gaps, they can't run the ball. It's cliche and as easy as it sounds."

Offensively Carolina is tremendously banged-up in the backfield with Williams (ankle), Mike Tolbert (broken leg) and Jonathan Stewart (knee) all nursing injuries. Only Stewart is possibly in play for this game and undrafted rookie Reaves is expected to start after an uninspiring 12-carry, 26-yard performance against the Ravens.

The Panthers signed veteran running back Chris Ogbonnaya this week to provide some added depth.

All of that puts tremendous pressure on Newton, who has already been sacked nine times in three games.

The Bears, meanwhile, are expecting to get a pass-rush boost with the return of Jared Allen, who missed the Packers game with pneumonia.

OVERALL ANALYSIS

Neither team seems to be trending in the right direction but give the Bears a slight advantage in their attempt to open 3-0 on the road for the first time since 2006 due to all the injuries in the Carolina backfield.

Sports Network predicted outcome: Bears 24, Panthers 23