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CHICAGO - The Carolina Panthers had gone 96 games without a punt return for a touchdown.
Until Thursday night.
Ihmir Smith-Marsette avoided a tackle on the catch and then used his speed up the middle for a 79-yard touchdown in the first quarter of a prime-time game against the Chicago Bears in which both offenses started slowly. Smith-Marsette is the seventh player in Carolina history to record a punt-return touchdown (Steve Smith Sr. 4, Corey Brown, Kaelin Clay, Eric Guliford, Iheanyi Uwaezuoke, Winslow Oliver).
It was Carolina's first punt return for a touchdown since Kaelin Clay returned one in Week 12 against the New York Jets in 2017.