Bryce Young's performance should give Panthers optimism despite playoff loss

Nobody gave the Carolina Panthers much of a chance to win Saturday's wild-card game against the Los Angeles Rams. Despite being at home as the NFC South champions, their 8-9 record, combined with the Rams' 12 wins, made the Panthers a double-digit home underdog and one of the longest shots entering this year's postseason.

In the end, they did in fact lose, dropping a thrilling 34-31 game that ended with an MVP-caliber drive from Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford.

While the Panthers have to deal with the frustration of their season ending with a tough playoff loss, they have to come out of the game with a renewed sense of optimism about where the organization is going.

That is because quarterback Bryce Young rose to the occasion, matched an MVP contender pass for pass, and looked like the franchise quarterback the Panthers have been hoping he could be.

Bryce Young's performance huge reason for optimism for Panthers

Young's career with the Panthers has been a roller coaster over the first three years.

Carolina paid a huge price to trade up and acquire him at the top of the 2023 NFL Draft, trading away wide receiver DJ Moore and several draft picks, including a first-round pick that would eventually become the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft (which the Chicago Bears used to select quarterback Caleb Williams). With that sort of trade, you need to make sure you are getting your pick right.

Early on, there was some real concern as to whether or not the Panthers did.

Young experienced a ton of growing pains, did not have a lot of talent around him and even found himself benched for a period of time. 

Slowly but surely, you see progress being made. His play improved dramatically over the second half of the 2025 season, and he ended the season with eight touchdowns to only two interceptions over the final five games of the regular season. 

On Saturday, he played one of his better games, almost leading the Panthers to a stunning upset win. He only completed 21-of-40 passes for 264 yards, but that does not really tell the story of the way he played. He also added 24 rushing yards on three attempts and a touchdown, while also making big throws in big moments. The biggest of those came late in the fourth quarter when he gave the Panthers the lead with one of the best throws of his career.