Bryce Young didn’t silence any critics with his poor performance in the Carolina Panthers‘ season opener last week, having one of the worst starts for any quarterback in Week 1. This week wasn’t any better.
Young finished 18 of 26 for 84 yards with an interception (56.3 rating) as Carolina fell 26-3 to the Los Angeles Chargers to fall to 0-2 on the season. Through two games, Young has completed 55.4% of his passes for 245 yards with no touchdowns to three interceptions, while being sacked six times. Young is averaging 4.4 yards per attempt and has a 44.1 passer rating through two starts.
The poor performance can be attributed to a poor start. Young went 8 of 10 for 22 yards with an interception in the first half, having a 39.6 rating in the opening 30 minutes. This is on the heels of a performance where Young went 6 of 12 for 50 yards and an interception and two sacks (26.4 rating).
In the first half this season, Young is 14 of 22 for 72 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions, averaging 3.3 yards per attempt and compiling a 30.9 passer rating.
In addition to Young’s struggles, the Panthers became the third team since the NFL merger to trail by 20+ points at halftime in the first two games of the season, joining the 1978 Baltimore Colts and 2018 Buffalo Bills. The Panthers have 28 first-half points in their last 10 games combined and have been outscored 150-28 over that span. This is the fewest first-half points (28) by any team in a 10-game span since the 2002 Dallas Cowboys.
The Panthers became the first team since the 2022 Giants to score 10 or fewer points in four straight games. They are the first team with four straight games with fewer than 200 total yards since the 2009 Browns and have bene outscored by 95 points in their last four games — the worst stretch in team history.
Young’s struggles early in games haven’t helped the Panthers offense evolve, which could spell trouble for the franchise in the weeks to come.
