Young took a massive step forward in narrow defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs
Long suffering fans of the Carolina Panthers are probably waking up happier with and more confident in their team now that the team’s two-game winning streak is over than they did waking up after either of the previous two wins. Bryce Young and Dave Canales showed us a taste of the team that they are trying to build in Charlotte and it was a revelation from the stagnant, unsuccessful, and plain uninteresting teams of the past seven seasons.
The story book ending would have seen the Panthers triumph over the Kansas City Chiefs, starting an avalanche that put this team in the playoffs. That’s not how this works. Sure, the NFC South will always be in play, but we all have an eye on a much bigger problem than just the 2024 season. The quarterback position in Carolina has long been considered unsettled in the sense that Young, the number one overall pick from the 2023 NFL Draft, has been considered a bust. His throws were timid, inaccurate, and telegraphed.
One game is an insufficient sample size to call that opinion wrong, but it is certainly enough to call it incomplete. Young was poised, decisive, and bold yesterday. He threw with accuracy and touch. Each of the last three games have seen Young playing better and better to the point that he has now demonstrated a superior level of quarterbacking than at any other time in his career. Let’s not discount that he did it against one of the best defenses in the NFL, against one of the best defensive coordinators against “bad” quarterbacks in Steve Spagnuolo, and hyped up against a virtually guaranteed loss to the two-time reigning Super Bowl Champions.
The Bryce Young that played yesterday keeps his job and wins games with this team next season. That would be a huge boon for a team that paid a king’s ransom to draft him. It fast forwards the timeline around building this team into a contender. If that’s the real Young. If that Young can be consistent and can continue to improve. Those are huge ‘if’s and they are the foundation of my optimism coming off of this loss.
It’s not that there is potential to be untapped, or questions to be answered. It’s not that this was the third game in a row in which Young’s play has been trending upwards. Those are reasons for the coaches to be optimistic. I am thrilled that we still have six games left to watch Young play. That should provide a sufficient sample size to show if Canales and Young and can work together and produce the kind of winning teams that Young was drafted to lead.
Maybe I’ve watched too many years of Panthers football, but it would be so them to show a flash in the pan in the last game of the season and then spend the whole offseason wringing their hands about what to do. That team, ultimately, fails to make decisive or effective moves and enters the 2025 season with two feet tied behind their backs. This team feels different and I, as a fan, am beyond ready for different.