GoJo and Golic preview Thursday Night Football: What is there to look forward to in Panthers-Bears?

It’s Thursday and you know what that means — it’s time for another Thursday Night Football preview with Mike Golic Jr. and Mike Golic Sr.!

On Wednesday’s show, TNF analyst Andrew Whitworth said the Panthers should get off wins and losses and instead focus on the little nuances as Bryce Young continues to develop in a difficult rookie season. As Jessie points out, this game is more likely to matter for draft positioning than anything else, with the Bears at 2-7 and the Panthers at 1-7.

GoJo calls this one a true Sickos Bowl for the ages, so he’s expecting Al and Herbie to be talking a lot about future draft prospects for both teams. Senior points out that the Bears have Carolina’s pick, so they “win” either way when it comes to the draft. He says the one thing you could have looked forward to in this game was the continued evaluation of Justin Fields, but obviously, he will not be playing as he is still dealing with a thumb injury and thus the Bears can’t evaluate him. While Carolina knows they are building around Young and he just needs some weapons to throw to aside from just Adam Thielen, Senior says the Bears are just spinning their wheels right now.

GoJo agrees that the Panthers know they have their QB of the future heading into this offseason even if they have areas to work on, especially on the offensive line. As for the Bears, GoJo says they’re in a weird limbo where they’re trying to thread the needle between competing now (as evidenced by moves like trading for Montez Sweat) while also still trying to evaluate their quarterback. GoJo says that the notion of “the best ability is availability” and “can’t make the club from the tub” comes into play and at some point in the back half of the season the Bears will have to be decisive and make a decision one way or the other, especially given their opportunities at the top of the draft. If for nothing else than self-preservation in the Bears front office.

So what can Chicago do? Senior says the Bears can try to make themselves better in other areas knowing that even if you keep Fields he’ll still be on a rookie contract. They do have the ability to tinker around the quarterback, Senior says, but they will have to make a finite decision one way or the other. GoJo notes that the Bears can feel optimistic about the play of the right side of the offensive line of late and D.J. Moore has shown some traits of a No. 1 wide receiver in some of Fields’ best performances this season.

Just don’t expect anything spectacular in tonight’s matchup on Thursday Night Football. Sorry, Al.

Meanwhile, GoJo was playing hurt on Thursday after a trip to Fogo de Chao ...

SHOW BREAKDOWN

Hour 1: GoJo’s Meat Assault, Thursday Night Football Sickos Preview, Michigan Updates Are Hilarious, Gregg Popovich the Father Figure and Dillion Brooks the LeBron Stopper

VIDEO:

Watch GoJo and Golic every weekday on Samsung TV Plus, Roku, Xumo Play and DraftKingsNetwork.com from 8 to 10 a.m. ET. The show will also be available via audio on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also follow Mike Golic Sr. on X at @golic and Mike Golic Jr. on X at @mikegolicjr.

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