Caleb Williams and Bryce Young’s divergent paths highlight many layers of Panthers’ costly trade

Bryce Young watched from the sideline as Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams — the quarterback who will forever be linked to Young in NFL lore — faced third-and-13 late in the third quarter.

A wired headset in his left ear, Young paced the sideline, as his Carolina Panthers aimed to muster a comeback from a 20-points-and-counting hole.

During his team’s offensive moments, he was taking mental reps. During defensive moments like this, he was reviewing the strategy he had been tasked with imitating at practices that week as quarterback of the scout team.

So as the Panthers’ defense stopped Keenan Allen two yards short of a first down, Young clapped for and high-fived his teammates, even though he had not seen the field in three weeks.

He was supportive. But this wasn’t the plan.

The Carolina Panthers did not trade two first-round draft picks, two second-round picks and their best receiver to draft a cheerleader who would be benched two games into his second season.

They did not trade up from the ninth to first overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft with the expectation Young would throw 11 touchdowns to 10 interceptions in his debut season, completing 59.8% of his passes while taking 62 sacks for a league-worst 477 yards.

Fair or not, the Panthers had expected Young to be serviceable upon arrival as Williams has been this year for Chicago.

Instead, the Panthers engineered a trade that expedited the Bears’ rebuild and massively hampered their own as Young’s 2-15 rookie season gifted Chicago the first overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft that it used on Williams.

Sunday, as the two teams faced off for the first time since Chicago drafted Williams with its gift-wrapped top pick, Young was left watching largely from the sideline as his own team sputtered and Williams posted a 126.2 passer rating that far outpaced Young’s career 70.9 mark. It all highlighted just how far apart these franchises are.

This wasn’t just about a result that pushed Chicago back above .500 at 3-2 while the Panthers fly home 1-4. This was about the players who dictated that result — beginning with the quarterbacks and one key receiver.

On day Panthers could use D.J. Moore, Bears did just that

The Panthers held their own early in the game, each team trading a three-and-out before they then exchanged touchdown drives.

But after running back Chuba Hubbard raced up the heart of Chicago’s generally sound defense for a 38-yard score, the Bears didn’t just find the end zone with any player — they found the end zone with two players they would not have if not for Carolina.

With 5:44 to play in the first quarter, Williams seemed to intuit that as Panthers cornerback Jaycee Horn let his man streak from left to right, no defender picked up receiver D.J. Moore. So the Panthers’ 2018 first-round pick grabbed Williams’ pass and covered the distance for a 34-yard touchdown against the team for whom he once scored 21.

“It’s amazing,” Moore said after the game, a daughter on each of his legs. “It took five weeks to get the down-the-field pass game going and when it hits, it hits. It was good today.”

In the second quarter, the Bears pulled away. Carolina did not score at all as Chicago twice capped off scoring drives with 1-yard rushing touchdowns and then returned to the man who had played for both teams.

This time, with 24 seconds to play in the first half, Williams looked off his safety to the right and hitched slightly. He found Moore in the end zone for a 30-yard touchdown, Moore catching the backside pass as if Carolina cornerback Michael Jackson was not draped over him as thoroughly as he was.

Williams and Moore were ecstatic to hit this play they’d hammered in practice, Moore said.

“We were both like, ‘Finally, we were able to hit (on) that,’” Williams said. “The coverage pushed over when I made the check to the right side. D.J. did a good job keeping the skinny, getting on his toes … (and) obviously did a great job and made a great catch.

“Having a special player like that on your team, you obviously want to get him the ball, let him be D.J. and be special.”

Even with the Bears defense softening amid the lead, the Panthers managed to convert just 4 of 15 attempts on third and fourth down, as well as 0-for-2 in the red zone.

They missed the receiver who has averaged 55 first downs across his career, and struggled to rebound from offensive line casualties.

The Panthers subbed Young in for the final drive, down 26 with 4:15 to play. He finished 4 of 7 for 58 yards in relief.

But starting quarterback Andy Dalton said Young “looked comfortable” and Panthers head coach Dave Canales appreciated Young capitalizing on live reps.

“He did a fantastic job, playing with energy, extending plays, finding some completions down the field, which is all fantastic,” Canales said. “It’s a hard situation but at that point … I wanted to get Andy out of there and just give Bryce an opportunity to continue to put some good football in there while we had time.”

Across the ball, Williams went 20 of 29 (68.9%) for 304 yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers. Williams also rushed for 34 yards on five carries.

“He knows that this is first year and he’s going to face a lot of different things,” Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said. “He’s just learning and growing. You can see that. During the course of the games we have, he needs to continue to grow.

“He’s going to level up.”

As Panthers dug their own hole, Caleb Williams reaped the benefits

Credit Williams for the progress he showed in his fifth NFL start.

Williams posted his second-highest yardage, his best career passer rating, his best touchdown-to-interception ratio and his lowest sack total.

And yet, it’s not unfair to suggest the Bears set up Williams to succeed far more than the Panthers set up Young last year. A coaching carousel, shaky offensive line and limited collection of skill players didn’t help Young find confidence or rhythm at the pro level.

Williams doesn’t seem to have a much steadier offensive line, but he does have a top-10 defense, a two-pronged effective run game, and a deep group of pass catchers headlined by Moore, Allen and this year’s ninth overall pick Rome Odunze.

The trade haul also accounts for right tackle Darnell Wright, cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, punter Tory Taylor, Williams, Moore and an extra 2025 second-round selection.

The Panthers deserve criticism for making a costly trade for a player they either misevaluated, weren’t prepared to support or both.

The Bears, meanwhile, know their haul is not fully the result of their merit.

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“We’re extremely fortunate to be in the situation in which we’re in,” assistant general manager Ian Cunningham told Yahoo Sports during training camp. “We had good foresight and tried to maximize the draft position that we had in certain moves. And I think a little bit of it (was) we got lucky, too, right?

“I think that’s fair to say.”

Now, as they have a more fuller picture of their cast, the Bears seem to be settling into the right formula for supporting Williams.

Some of their success Sunday reflects the caliber of defense the Panthers trotted out against Williams. And some reflects an evolving game plan and quarterback mentality less fixated on making every play a big play and more interested in staying alive on drives to diversify game plans.

The Bears are leaning into short passes, checkdowns and run games to open up the deep ball, hoping that throwing different looks at the defense pre- and post-snap will leave the defenses “just trying to scramble,” Williams said.

“I thought he did a fantastic job extending plays,” Canales said of Williams. “We had him dead in the right side a couple times. He wiggled out of great rushes, great pressure on him. We had things covered and he extended the play and found completions.

“He settled in and played good football.”

Williams and Moore also found their most success together yet, Moore catching five of his eight targets for 105 yards and two touchdowns.

As the Bears travel to England to play the Jacksonville Jaguars next Sunday morning, they’ll hope to build off the foundation they developed further with this win.

“Just a special game today to get us all going off,” Moore said. “We’re having a lot of fun doing it. With fun comes a lot of win, and with wins comes a lot of fun.”