Bryce Young under siege as Panthers fall to Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. — On a night when the Carolina Panthers’ offense needed life, all Bryce Young could do was run for his.

His offensive line was outclassed, out-toughed, out-played.

And yet, as the clock ticked late into the fourth quarter under the lights in Green Bay’s Lambeau Field, Young ran and ran and ran and nearly willed Carolina to a much-needed bounce-back win. He got them all the way within eight points — and even had the Panthers driving, the game within one score, 4:35 left in the game, 55 yards away from legend.

Young and the Panthers couldn’t capitalize on the iconic opportunity, though, and ultimately fell to the screaming green-and-gold parishioners, 27-19. The final play of the game’s final consequential drive? Young was flushed from the pocket and tossed an off-balance throw to Tetairoa McMillan — and it skipped before reaching the receiver’s arms. (There was also one last gasp for the Panthers, one in which they needed to go 80 yards in 22 seconds; that effectively ended with a sack, too.)

Carolina is now 3-4. The team has dipped to a losing record for the first time all season since Week 1 and now has allowed the 3-4 Falcons a direct path to sole ownership of the NFC South later this weekend. Carolina now falls to 5-11 all-time on Thursday nights.

The Packers, missing All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons and a flurry of their own offensive linemen, move to 5-3.

Young finished 23 of 41 for 209 yards and one touchdown; he also added one touchdown. That all summed up to a 68.0 passer rating. Yes, statistically, that’s his worst of the year — his last three games, in fact, have been successively worse, statistically. But it’s tough to pin the blame on the fourth-year quarterback after watching him get blitzed into oblivion drive after drive, snap after snap. He was officially sacked six times for 33 yards and was hit three more times. Young’s sole interception? A pass deflection that came with a defender rushing into his face.

According to Sumer Sports, in the first half, the Packers only blitzed 19.1% of the time but earned a pressure on 47.6% of Young’s dropbacks. Those numbers, somehow, felt charitable.

McMillan was targeted 10 times and hauled in five catches for 50 yards. Jalen Coker caught two passes for 38 yards and a touchdown. The Panthers’ defense had a mostly redemptive performance after last week’s melee — only allowing 66 rushing yards of 354 total yards — but it wasn’t enough.

Here are three other takeaways from Thursday’s contest:

Chuba Hubbard’s usage rate skyrockets

It wasn’t in a winning effort, but it shouldn’t be overlooked: Chuba Hubbard was great Thursday. In fact, for way-too-long stretches, he seemed to be the sole engine of the Panthers’ offense.

He was the only Panther to gain yards through the team’s first two drives. By the end of the first quarter, he had eight carries for 29 yards (100% of the team’s rushing yards), three receptions for 15 yards (28% of the team’s receiving yards) and was involved in 11 of the team’s 21 plays.

By halftime? The 2021 Panthers draft pick accounted for 58 of the team’s 85 total yards — or 68% of all the Panthers’ offense.

He finished with 22 carries for 81 yards and one touchdown.

And it’s not like Hubbard did that with a flourishing line in front of him. Handoff after handoff after handoff, Hubbard saw a collapsing path where there was supposed to be daylight. He was able to salvage such runs, but in a game that required explosiveness, white-knuckling his way through three yards at a time wasn’t enough.

Panthers cornerbacks can’t catch a break

The Panthers came into the contest without much depth at cornerback. They left even lighter at the position.

Promising rookie cornerback Will Lee suffered a hamstring injury in the first half that forced an early exit from the contest. He hurt it while in coverage of a 50-plus-yard Christian Watson catch; it appeared he hurt it without contact, while running alongside Watson’s route.

Lee’s absence, even in normal times, would hurt this team’s depth. But these aren’t normal times. Every bruise lingers.

Carolina came into Thursday already down its two starting corners; Jaycee Horn (quad) and Mike Jackson (groin) are on the injured reserve. Lee was considered “CB1” behind them.

The Panthers also had to place next-man-up Akayleb Evans on the injured reserve on Thursday afternoon. Evans missed all of this week’s practice with a triceps injury. He’ll now have to miss at minimum the next four games.

The Panthers, in a corresponding move, signed cornerback Marco Wilson from the practice squad and also elevated CB Malcolm DeWalt for added cornerback depth. They also used 2024 fifth-round draft pick Chau Smith-Wade — but not until Lee was injured.

So to recap: The Panthers entered Thursday with three of their top four cornerbacks on injured reserve. And they exited Thursday with four of their four injured. This is no longer a scab; this is a deep wound.

3 total points off 3 turnovers

Coaches often say that if you win the turnover battle, you win the game. The Panthers provided some compelling counter-evidence Thursday.

Carolina ended up turning the Packers over three times — and only yielded three total points.

The one that resulted in points came from the first play of the game, when rookie Jackson Kuwatch jarred loose a fumble from Packers kick returner Coleman Owen and Panthers OLB Nick Hampton recovered it. That one, the Panthers gained a total of eight net yards and settled for a field goal and took a 3-0 lead.

The other two yielded nothing: Not the fumble by Christian Watson in the first half. Not the interception by rookie safety Zakee Wheatley in the red zone — Wheatley’s pick could’ve been a turning point, a chance for the Panthers, down 14 with an entire fourth quarter ahead of them, to make something happen. They didn’t. They couldn’t. And it made Thursday’s result sting even more.

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