CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After starting his NFL career with back-to-back losses, Bryce Young missed last year's Week 3 trip to Seattle with a high-ankle injury, but many thought it was more of a psychological blow to the No. 1 draft pick.
Now, the Carolina Panthers head out West again in Week 3 coming off a much worse losing streak than last year, and the question is whether Young will benefit from this week of rest.
Or even longer.
With each loss, Young is becoming less and less of a quarterback. The 5-foot-10, 2021 Heisman Trophy winner completed a respectable 18 of 26 passes in Sunday's 26-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. But those passes were for just 84 yards, the fourth-lowest total in franchise history for a quarterback with at least 25 attempts.
Young looks overwhelmed, jumping to throw passes over the heads of pass rushers but also afraid to throw them downfield, perhaps because nothing good has come of it so far. One of the few passes Young did throw downfield was intercepted by safety Elijah Molden on a play eerily similar to Young's first pass interception of the season in a 47-10 loss at New Orleans.
Fans booed Young after his interception on Sunday and again after a third-down pass fell short of the first-down marker. The crowd, which included Charlotte rapper DaBaby and several fans with bags over their heads, booed the Panthers players as they left the field at halftime with 15 1/2 games remaining.
They weren't the only ones frustrated.
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Veteran receiver Adam Thielen lost his cool. Someone nearby started screaming. Thielen had not yet been targeted after Young was sacked midway through the third quarter. He later apologized to Young but said his moment of “rage” was not directed specifically at Young.
The Panthers' receiving numbers looked like a middle school game.
Running back Chuba Hubbard led the team with four catches for 12 yards. Dionta Johnson was targeted a team-high six times, leading to an interception and three catches for Malden. Johnson's longest pass was seven yards. Young's longest pass was a 12-yarder to tight end Tommy Tremble on the first play of the second half.
Johnson was asked if he was surprised by how few downfield shots he took.
“We all are,” he said, “but that's the reality. We're not the ones calling the plays, so our job is to go out there and execute all the plays we're called to and get it on film.”
Manager Dave Canales defended Young when asked if he would start next week in Las Vegas.
“Bryce is our quarterback,” he said. “We're going to continue to work on and refine what we fundamentally need from a strategy standpoint. These are all valuable practices. These are all valuable games. We learned a lot from this game and hopefully we can take some steps forward this week.”
Canales has a tough decision to make regarding Young. Benching Young after two games in favor of Andy Dalton would be an indictment on his offense and the scouting abilities of general manager Dan Morgan, who was assistant general manager when the Panthers traded four draft picks (two first and two second picks) and wide receiver DJ Moore to the Chicago Bears for Young's No. 1 pick.
But Canales risks alienating the locker room and fan base by continuing to use a quarterback who doesn't give the Panthers a chance to win. If the fans weren't impressed on Sunday, they'll be even more ruthless in a few weeks if the Panthers are still winless and Young struggles.
Owner David Tepper will likely let Canales have the decision at that point, and some may encourage the Panthers to endure a tough season and get the No. 1 pick, but the loss of fans is what prompted Tepper to let go of Ron Rivera and Matt Lue.
Fans could be heard chanting expletives along with Tepper's name and urging a hedge fund billionaire to sell the team.
The Panthers have been booed, faced with fans wearing bags over their heads, and are at risk of a stadium takeover by visiting fans at every home game.
Fans at Bank of America Stadium are venting their anger at the Panthers, especially after their performance against the Chargers on Sunday. (Bob Donnan/USA Today)
The Panthers lost their first two games this year by a combined margin of 60 points, the second-largest losing streak in franchise history. After Rivera was fired in 2019, the Panthers suffered back-to-back losses, including a 38-6 loss to the Indianapolis Colts and a 42-10 loss to the New Orleans Saints in the season finale.
The quarterbacks in those games were undrafted free agents and third-round picks Will Grier and Kyle Allen. Grier was not the No. 1 pick just ahead of C.J. Stroud. With Young throwing passes at or near the line of scrimmage, Sam Darnold, who will be the Panthers' bounce-back starter in 2022 under Steve Wilks, led the Minnesota Vikings to a 23-17 win over the San Francisco 49ers.
Darnold's 97-yard touchdown pass to Justin Jefferson pushed him one play past Young's total for the day. Darnold and fellow former Carolina quarterback Baker Mayfield are both 2-0 to start the season.
Canales pointed to third down as the source of their offensive issues — the Panthers have converted just 1 of 12 third-down opportunities and just 2 of 22 this season — and getting passes to receivers behind the first-down marker on third-down plays would be an improvement.
“We just try to attack the sticks,” Canales said, “some of it was planned and we expected the plays to turn out, but overall we had opportunities to make plays on both sides on third down and it's all about making plays.”
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Canales called several times in the second half as if the Panthers were leading 23-3, not losing by that score. Late in the third quarter, the Panthers ran, ran and passed, then punted on fourth down and 2 from their own 25. In all fairness, the run game was the only thing that worked. Hubbard averaged 6.4 yards on 10 carries.
But this is a passing league, and Canales' vision was a high-powered rushing attack that would make things easier for Young with play-action and bootlegs. Canales keeps saying, “It's going to take time to become like us,” but there's little evidence that this will be a competent attack with Young at the helm.
“I love Bryce to death,” said Thielen, who had two catches for 20 yards. “He works hard. He's a great player. This isn't about Bryce Young. This is about the offense, this is about the team. We're all in the same situation.”
“There's no individual on this offense to blame. It's a collective thing. I'm excited to see how far we can go, but we've got to figure out how to have the urgency to get it done.”
Everything is very similar to last year and we know how it ended: something, or someone, will have to make a sacrifice.
(Top photo of Joey Bosa and Bryce Young: David Jensen/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
