CHARLOTTE — You never want to get too happy about a game you don’t win.
But there were plenty of things that happened in Sunday’s 30-27 loss to the Chiefs that the Panthers will reflect fondly upon as they evaluate the season.
Quarterback Bryce Young had his best game of the year, and perhaps the best of his career, all things considered (last year’s Packers game was against a bad defense, and this was against a top-five Chiefs unit). They lost to snap a two-game winning streak prior to the bye week and fell to 3-8, but it felt like something was accomplished Sunday in Bank of America Stadium.
Young finished the game 21-of-35 passing with 262 yards and a touchdown, and drove them for a game-tying touchdown in the final two minutes of the game. That’s an achievement for a player who lost his starting job three weeks into the season, and needed a car wreck to get it back.
It was the second-highest passing yardage total of his career, trailing the 312 against the Packers on Christmas Eve last year. It was also the highest of this season, and a steady progression in his fourth straight start since reclaiming the starting job thanks to Andy Dalton’s accident on the Tuesday prior to the Denver game.
