CHICAGO —The first drive was so promising. The Carolina Panthers defense forced Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears into a 3-and-out, capped by an 8-yard sack from Charles Harris. After that, things sort of fell apart.

"I mean, football happened," linebacker Claudin Cherelus said. "We started off good, we started off with energy. I'm not saying we lost energy but, you know, it's never going to be perfect … we just got to keep playing, be more crisp on our details."

From there, the Panthers had a litany of issues to deal with, from injuries to starters (in an already thin unit) to being gashed on the ground and through the air, all punctuated by a fight following a Bears score that saw cornerback Jaycee Horn ejected.

"We just have to continue to control our emotions," Dave Canales said of the fight. "In a really hard game, and emotions run high right there."

But that was one of the last problems. The injury that took Clowney off the field came at the position they could least afford.

The Panthers pass rush was thin when the season began, with D.J. Wonnum on the physically unable to perform list. With DJ Johnson and early season acquisition Harris on one side, the unit leaned on Clowney for much of the production. He came into Week 5 with only one sack, but multiple pressures that helped provide push into the backfield.

Towards the end of the first half on Sunday, Clowney was injured on a play that added insult to a very injurious series. Tight end Tommy Tremble was taken out of the game and checked for a concussion after a hard hit that caused him to fumble the ball. The Bears recovered and took over at the Panthers 44-yard line. A dump-off to D'Andre Swift that saw the speedy back follow his blockers and weave around defenders to the tune of 42-yards ended with the Bears on the 2-yard line and Clowney crumpled on the ground back around mid-field.

His shoulder injury was significant enough that trainers walked the veteran off the field and directly to the locker room.

While Clowney didn't stop for interviews, he did say after the game that he expected to play next week.

With Clowney out of the game, Johnson and Harris took over pass-rush duties. On the Bears second offensive drive of the second half, however, Johnson was banged up stopping Swift on the goal line. He helped keep Swift out of the end zone but was helped off the field. He eventually did return, but for a period, the unit was comprised of Harris, Tarron Jackson, and Thomas Incoom, the latter two of whom began the season on the practice squad.

"It's just next man up," Harris said. "We all get the same coaching, we're all at the same walk through, we all go to the same practice, the same playbook.

"Obviously Clowney a tremendous leader, tremendous talent in general. But we got guys across the board that can play ball."

Added Canales: "This is a contact sport, and the thing I have to say is our guys play the game, right? And they play it hard and physical, and they're looking to hit and finish these tackles and they're playing with such great effort.

"You put yourself in situations where you can be vulnerable and I always go into the games, and I'm just hoping like that we can play this style and you always just, you hate when it happens, you know, but it is part of our game."

Still, with the hit to the pass rush, Caleb Williams was able to do what he does best and extend plays. The rookie No. 1-overall pick had five rushes for 34 yards on downfield scrambles, but that doesn't include the times he escaped the pocket, evaded would be sacks, to give receivers time downfield to get open. He finished the day going 20-29 passing for 304 yards and two passing touchdowns. He was sacked once, on the opening drive.

"I just thought he did a fantastic job extending plays," Canales said of Williams. "We had him dead to rights a couple of times. He wiggled out of great rushes, great pressure on him. We had things covered, live looking at it and he extended the play and found completions.

"He played efficiently. The first drive, like Jaycee (Horn's) got a ball in his hands. I'd love to turn that into points right there. But I thought (Caleb) settled in and just, you know, played good football and that's what they're expecting of him."

Williams had two weapons working alongside him: DJ Moore, who finished with five receptions for 105 yards and two touchdowns, and D'Andre Swift, who turned his 23 touches into 120 yards and a touchdown.

"It's not always scheme. It's just sometimes you just got to execute better," safety Nick Scott admitted. "I mean. I say it kind of as a joke, but you know, those guys are on scholarship too. So, there's going to be plays that you win and plays that you lose, you just got to keep getting at there."

The Bears went no-huddle for much of the first half, taking advantage of the above matchups. As a result, it put stress on Trevin Wallace. The rookie middle linebacker not only got his first start on Sunday, but also wore the green dot as play-caller, with both Shaq Thompson and Josey Jewell out.

"I feel like they, I don't know, I feel like they started doing that because it's like, OK, so rookie linebacker in," Wallace said. "But, you know, I managed it well, managed it real well."

As the fourth quarter wound to an end, and the Bears added one more touchdown for good measure, tensions began to rise and punches swung in the end zone. Horn was ejected after he retaliated against Bears offensive lineman Matt Pryor.

"He was instigated," Canales explained, before adding, "We can't retaliate, they always catch the second person. And actually, you know, fairly, the officials kind of saw all that happened and officiated it the proper way, but we just got to maintain our composure and know on a day like this, let's finish with class, let's finish on our terms, and then we'll get back to work."

As the locker room at Soldier Field cleared out and players headed to the bus amongst whispered conversations about what went wrong, Wallace stopped an equipment manager.

"Don't wash my jersey," he asked. "It's my first start."

It was a reminder, as Cherelus told his teammate, "You got to treasure each of these." And a reminder, that for as much as can go wrong in this game, there is always next week, always a chance at redemption, always another game to look forward to.