In four days time, the Chicago Bears will be taking on the Carolina Panthers in a Week 1 matchup between two reigning division champs that have a ton to still prove in 2026.

To give the Panthers some credit, they have made a lot more splashes this offseason looking at the roster from their playoff loss compared to their Week 1 roster going into this game, especially when you look at what the Bears did this offseason.

“Defensively you just look at their numbers, the way they ended the back-half of last season they were one of the Top-10 defenses in football. And they did nothing but got better through free agency and the draft,” Bears head coach Ben Johnson said Tuesday. “We’ll have our hands full there. They’ve got star power all across the field… It’ll be a significant challenge right out of the gate.”

Carolina is especially excited to debut their two top free agent signings in pass rusher Jaelan Phillips and middle linebacker Devin Lloyd. And Ben Johnson already has his attention on one of those two new pieces.

Benn Johnson has his attention on Devin Lloyd going into Week 1 matchup against the Carolina Panthers

Lloyd earned his first Pro Bowl nod last season with the Jacksonville Jaguars and at the right time before hitting free agency. Carolina viewed him as the missing piece they’ve needed for years at the linebacker position and paid handsomely for his services.

Over the last few months, Lloyd has done nothing but prove his best days are still ahead with his new team, even coming off a breakout season.

“Super athletic, can run all over the place, come down and thump ya, good in coverage. And so, he’s a guy that we’re certainly aware of,” Johnson explained. “All three levels right now, they’ve got people that we’ve got to make sure we account for. Little bit different scheme that what (Lloyd’s) been in in the past and we’ll see how they want to utilize him. Do they want to pressure him? Do they want to keep him in coverage? That’s something, without a whole lot of tape out there, it’s hard to say for sure.”

The other aspect that will make game planning for Lloyd a difficult challenge is the other new veteran linebacker next to him in Bobby Okereke. Finding the right LB2 to complement Lloyd was an important task for the Panthers to allow Lloyd to be as versatile and unpredictable as possible. And the Bears will have the toughest time with that because they have to do it in Week 1 with no tape to go off of.

Colston Loveland gives the Chicago Bears’ offense a fighting chance against Devin Lloyd

Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales noted on his side of things that he’s focused on stopping Ben Johnson’s creative run game and talked about how Lloyd’s downhill trigger can help with that. In the passing game however, Bears’ tight end Colston Loveland will present a tough challenge for Lloyd.

“I think he’s a really hard matchup for really any safety in this league, any linebacker in this league that wants to cover him in man,” Johnson said. “That’s a tough ask. He’s too big for these nickels to cover if that’s the matchup. I’m really pleased with where he’s at.”

Traditionally, the Panthers have struggled defensively against top tight ends like Loveland. Ejiro Evero’s unit has allowed 22 touchdowns to the tight end position over the last three seasons and it’s a big reason why they brought in a big fast linebacker like Lloyd.

However, the Bears added a faster linebacker of their own this offseason in Devin Bush, and even he had issues all summer against Chicago’s second-year rising star.

“Man, he’s one of those guys, he has a way of just catching that ball, dawg,” Bush said. “He just, I don’t know. He’s really good at tracking the ball, he’s really good at stemming his routes and getting to his points and like I said, bringing that ball in. He has a huge catch radius. Obviously his athleticism is just a bonus with how he’s structured and how he’s built. He’s a really tough cover.”

This will likely be the matchup that defines this game on Sunday and it’ll be a really fun one to watch to see which player gets the upper hand.