Start’em or Sit’em in Fantasy Football: Bears vs. Panthers |
Chicago Bears players have been all over the place in fantasy.
One week, rookie receiver Rome Odunze had over 100 receiving yards and a touchdown. The next week, running back D’Andre Swift had 165 scrimmage yards and his first rushing touchdown as a Chicago Bear. What will this coming week bring? Against the Carolina Panthers this coming Sunday (Noon / FOX), several players have a chance to put up solid fantasy numbers. Caleb Williams - Good pickup if your QB is on a bye week It is officially the first week of bye weeks, and despite the fact that the Chicago Bears are not on bye, it adds a little bit of a wrinkle in which Bears players you should start. This is particularly true with Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert and Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff all on bye this week. According to ESPN, Williams is being rostered in under half of the fantasy leagues. His rushing upside has not been there this season. However, this is a Panthers team that gives up a lot of fantasy points. Given the favorable matchup, if your quarterback is on bye, Williams is a good pickup. If he is on your bench, he is definitely worth picking up. DJ Moore - Start Moore is a must-start on this Bears offense regardless of who is or is not on bye. He consistently gets targets as he has 34 targets through the first four weeks. Against the Los Angeles Rams, he finally got his first touchdown of the season. The numbers have not been great for Moore, but that is not incredibly surprising, given he is still trying to develop chemistry with Williams. They seemed to have made some progress in the second half and that should continue into this next against Carolina. When he faced the Panthers last season, he recorded five receptions for 58 yards. This should be considered his floor going into this season's matchup. Rome Odunze - Consider as a flex player Odunze is probably one of the more volatile players in fantasy. There is a lot of competition in Chicago’s receiver room with Moore and six-time Pro-Bowler Keenan Allen. However, Williams seems to have developed more chemistry with Odunze than Allen, propelling him as the No. 2 receiver on the Bears for fantasy purposes. He had 11 targets in his breakout game against the Indianapolis Colts but only 12 targets in the other three games combined. The game against the Rams was his worst fantasy game, with only one reception for 10 yards. Playing the Panthers offers a good opportunity for him to have another breakout. However, according to ESPN, he has a 26 percent chance of scoring under 6.5 points in a full points per reception (PPR) league, although he has a 25 percent chance of getting at least 18.6 points in a full PPR league. So, with more reliable players on bye, if you need a player with a high ceiling, consider starting Odunze. Cole Kmet - Sit Tight ends are a mess this fantasy season. But with Chicago, only so many people can get the ball. If Moore and Odunze are getting the ball a good deal, along with Allen and running back D’Andre Swift, that does not leave much room for Kmet to get a lot of targets. In his breakout game against the Colts where he had nine receptions for 97 yards and a touchdown, Williams threw the ball 52 times. That is not going to happen on a consistent basis and with the Bears developing a run game, that could also cause a decrease in targets. The tight end position may be a dismal group this year, but Kmet still should not go into the starting lineup. It is also worth noting that he was limited in practice on Wednesday with a knee injury, so he also may not be 100 percent for this game. D’Andre Swift - Start Four things work in Swift’s favor going into this game. One, he has finally gotten going on the ground with an average of 5.8 yards per carry last game and his first rushing touchdown. Second, he was very active in the passing game, with seven receptions for 72 yards. Third, there are multiple elite running backs on bye this week including Saquon Barkley with the Philadelphia Eagles and David Montgomery with the Detroit Lions, creating a gap in many fantasy lineups. Fourth, going against a favorable matchup with the Carolina Panthers gives Swift a lot of opportunities to run the ball. Furthermore, if the Bears are playing from ahead, which they certainly should be, Swift will run the ball even more. With all of these factors, if you have Swift, he needs to go in your starting lineup no matter what kind of fantasy league you are in.
