The National Football League will complete their preseason schedule this weekend beginning with a pair of games on Thursday, three games on Friday, eight contests on Saturday and the final three matchups on Sunday.

The last week of the preseason is truly one up for grabs. Some teams, like the Carolina Panthers, would love to notch a win in August just as a parched man on a desert would cherish even a drop of water. The Panthers had the first pick in the draft last year by sending a bevy of future picks to the Chicago Bears for the first overall selection. They took Bryce Young, who did not show well in his rookie season while the second player taken in the 2023 draft, C.J. Stroud, led the Houston Texans from the cellar to the playoffs.

On Saturday, the Buffalo Bills, who expect to make another deep run into the playoffs this year, are home underdogs to the Panthers.

What?

That is what the preseason can produce. While the crowd will side with the Bills getting points over the win starved Panthers, the books are moving the line, which opened with Buffalo favored by 4½ points and has shifted to the Panthers giving that many points or more. Unless we think the books are giving one away, the better side of this proposition appears to be laying the ridiculous number and backing the Panthers.

While the Panthers traded a lot to move up to the top pick in the draft last year the team they dealt with got the better end of the bargain. With the Panthers having a horrible 2023 campaign, the Bears got the first pick in the draft because of their trade last year.

Who did they take?

Chicago selected USC Quarterback Caleb Williams while some thought the second pick in the draft, Jayden Daniels, may again prove to be the diamond from the group. The second pick went to the Washington Commanders, and they selected the Heisman Trophy winner and maybe, just maybe, this time both teams will benefit from the top selections.

When Williams started for the Bears last week, he didn’t register a first down in his first three series of work … and you know there were many in the Soldier Field crowd that were thinking the Bears may still be missing on filling the quarterback slot with a franchise type talent.

Then, Williams caught fire, and the crowd stood in appreciation as he led the Bears on consecutive scoring drives with both his arm and legs.

In preseason action on Thursday, Williams will meet the man who the Bears could have had eight years ago in a draft they chose Mitch Trubisky while Patrick Mahomes was on the board. In that first round, the Bears took Trubisky with the second overall selection while the Chiefs got Mahomes with the tenth pick. The rest is history that finds the Chiefs the class of the league, participating in four of the most recent five Super Bowls and this year looking to become the first squad ever to win three consecutive Vince Lombardi Trophies.

The Bears at the Chiefs on Thursday night, the Panthers at the Bills on Saturday, and who do you think is favored in those games?

Yeah, it is preseason, which makes the anticipation for games that count even more enticing.