Bryce Young and Panthers just had their worst game of 2023, and that’s saying something

The Carolina Panthers gave 2023 one final stinker to remember them by Sunday in a 26-0 road loss to Jacksonville.

It was the first time the Panthers (2-14) had been shut out since the 2002 season, as they made a Jacksonville team that had lost four games in a row and was playing without star quarterback Trevor Lawrence look like world beaters.

The only good thing about it?

Rookie quarterback Bryce Young somehow finished the New Year’s Eve game in one piece, which seemed like a questionable outcome throughout the afternoon. Young sustained a lower-back injury on the very first series in Jacksonville after a sack, writhing in pain on the field and briefly visiting the injury tent. But he never missed a play. Give the rookie credit for this: he may be 5-foot-10, but he’s darn tough.

But of the many poor days Young has had as a rookie NFL quarterback, this one was the worst. It was the worst game the Panthers have played in numerous tangible ways in 2023 but also in one important intangible: It both looked and felt hopeless.

Young was sacked six times, slammed a computer tablet to the ground in frustration and missed numerous open receivers when he wasn’t on his back, looking up at the Florida sky and trying to figure out which body part hurt the most.

The final stats were damning. Young went 19-for-32 for a paltry 112 yards, exactly 200 fewer yards than in his breakout game against Green Bay a week ago in Charlotte. He also had an interception, zero points, six straight three-and-outs, no offensive plays of more than 18 yards and basically no help, as usual, from his offensive line and wide receivers.

“Not fun,” Young said of the day as a whole. “Not fun at all.”

That could go for the entire year for Carolina. Bring on 2024 for these Panthers, because 2023 was atrocious. They hired and fired a head coach within 10 months. They traded for a rookie quarterback and were lucky they didn’t get him half-killed with the offensive line that was supposed to be blocking for him but regressed badly. They also clinched the worst record in the NFL, which resulted in a No. 1 draft pick in 2024 — for the Chicago Bears.

“I’m not concerned about the Bears’ first pick,” interim head coach Chris Tabor said after the game. “I’m really not.”

And he shouldn’t be, because that No. 1 pick isn’t Tabor’s problem. He didn’t make the trade that resulted in the Panthers giving away that enormous asset, and it’s quite likely that he won’t be here for Carolina’s 2024 season anyway.

Head coach Frank Reich and two assistant coaches have already been fired in a November purge, but many others are about to be, as the new coach makes the inevitable sweeping changes that always come when a team posts the NFL’s worst record (that’s now guaranteed for the Panthers) and overhauls the roster and the coaching staff (again).

As for Young, the Panthers should give serious thought to not playing him at all in the final game if he’s the least bit banged up after Sunday. Young keeps taking a beating out there, but for what, exactly? The rookie has now been sacked an unholy 59 times this season, and the fact that he has stayed fairly healthy and started 15 of Carolina’s 16 games is nothing short of miraculous.

I’d quit while I was behind on this one if I were the Panthers and let backup Andy Dalton quarterback the final, meaningless game against Tampa Bay in Charlotte next Sunday. Try not to turn Young into David Carr, a former No. 1 pick in the NFL draft himself who was never quite the same after being sacked a ridiculous 76 times in his own rookie year in Houston.

This was the first time Carolina has been shut out in 342 games, which was the NFL’s second-longest active streak. In 2002, the Panthers actually got shut out twice in consecutive months by an Atlanta team led by Michael Vick in his prime: 30-0 and 41-0. But that 2002 team wasn’t nearly as bad as this one: It also scored 52 points in a game and ended up 7-9.

Sunday’s game had the usual share of quirks, such as Carolina kicker Eddy Piñeiro being a late scratch due to a hamstring injury, which meant Carolina basically couldn’t attempt field goals. Defensive tackle Derrick Brown also got thrown out late, along with a Jacksonville player, for fighting.

In general, though, it was a boring game ... in a boring season ... in a boring six years. The Panthers are now 31-67 since owner David Tepper bought the team in 2018.

Poor Bryce Young. He’s supposed to fix this mess. But right now, the Panthers can’t even keep him upright.