The Carolina Panthers had a shot to take sole possession of first place in the NFC South. Instead, the offense laid an egg in San Francisco on Monday night, falling 20-9, making for an uncomfortable cross-country flight home.
"It's going to be a sucky plane ride back," quarterback Bryce Young said after the game, via the team's official transcript. "But we have a short week, so we have to turn the page. We have to flush it quick. It's not the outcome we wanted, but we're moving forward."
Coming off an explosive, franchise record-setting 448-yard, three-touchdown performance in Week 11, Young reverted to his skittish play that has peppered a sometimes promising season.
Carolina was unable to capitalize on the defense intercepting Brock Purdy three times in the first half, generating a measly three points on the trio of turnovers.
The most egregious mistake came from Young, who threw a ghastly interception in the end zone following Jaycee Horn's first pick of the game. After a Young scramble set up first-and-goal at the 1, Carolina called a play-action pass. Young had tight end Mitchell Evans open immediately, but held onto the ball and tried to force it to the TE a few beats later. The delay allowed San Francisco safety Ji'Ayir Brown to come off his coverage and intercept the ball.
Young noted he can't "put the ball in peril like that" and took ownership of the miscue that affected the tenor of the contest.
"We just need to execute. There's no dream plays or hoorah speeches," he said. "I need to do a better job of executing myself. I need to take care of the ball. I needed to do a better job of making plays go today. I didn't do good enough. I take all ownership in that. We have a locker room full of guys that do that, so we just have to be better. There's not some magical fix. It's us buckling down and playing good football. We didn't get that done on offense today. Again, it sucks, but it's a quick week. We have to be able to flush it quick and get on to the next one."
Young finished 18-of-29 passing for 169 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions for a 60.8 passer rating. It marked his seventh game of the season with fewer than 170 yards passing, most by a starting quarterback in 2025.
The quarterback looked off early and only found his rhythm for a drive in the third quarter, which he capped with a dime to rookie Tetairoa McMillan for the Panthers' only touchdown of the day. It wasn't as if the 49ers were all over Young. He was pressured on just seven of his 29 pass attempts, per Next Gen Stats, and was sacked once.
The lack of rushing attempts -- nine handoffs -- and inability to convert first downs (1 of 7 on third down) didn't allow the Panthers offense to catch a gear. They just sputtered all night, generating 12 first downs (the 49ers had 13 in the first half alone), 230 yards, and running just 43 offensive plays (70 for San Francisco).
A win would have leapfrogged the Panthers ahead of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers into first place in the NFC South. Not only did Carolina lose, but it also showed it couldn't hang with a conference contender for very long.
"Again, it sucks right now," Young said. "We don't have luxuries for big picture, not in this league. It was all about being 1-0 this week, it didn't happen. So that's what we're disappointed about. We'll be disappointed for the plane ride. We get back to Charlotte, we have to get back to work and just worry about the next week."
On a short week, the 6-6 Panthers host the NFC-leading 9-2 Los Angeles Rams before a Week 14 bye. All isn't lost in Carolina. Tampa (6-5) hasn't run away with the division, and the two face off twice in the final two weeks. However, Young must play better than he did Monday night if the Panthers are to turn things around down the stretch.
