Week 8 picks: Key matchups define the season’s halfway mark

Carolina Panthers at Chicago Bears Panthers head coach Ron Rivera has announced that running back Jonathan Stewart will get a chance to get the "hot hand" against Chicago's defense, which is a bit like the leader of a tiny village telling his primary warrior that he's going to get a lot of reps against the Roman Army about 2,000 years ago. That said, it's nice to see that Rivera finally understands the nature of the business -- through Week 7, per out buddy Greg Cosell, the Panthers have just 20 running plays in which Cam Newton is under center. "I want to see one guy pound and get a rhythm, then see the other guy pound and get a rhythm," Rivera told the Charlotte Observer . "To me it's hard for a back to get a rhythm when you're coming out every other play. So just looking back at some of those things philosophically and saying, look, this is what we have to do." What Steve Smith has to do is to find a way to get and stay open against Chicago's Charles Tillman, who joist might be the best defensive player in the NFL right now. This one has "mismatch" written all over it, unless Carolina's iffy defense somehow throws Jay Cutler off his game. We think Cutler wins this battle of emo...