Panthers ‘fought until the last second’ with Bryce Young, Thomas Brown leading the way

The Panthers nearly pulled off a Christmas Eve miracle Sunday against the Green Bay Packers at Bank of America Stadium.

Down by 14 with 11:38 left in the fourth quarter, rookie quarterback Bryce Young led back-to-back touchdown-scoring drives as Carolina tied the game at 30-30 with 4:12 remaining. But after the defense gave up a go-ahead field-goal drive to Jordan Love and the Green Bay offense, Young and Carolina’s passing attack were only given 19 seconds to respond.

Despite a valiant effort by the offense — which saw Young collect a combined 44 passing yards on two tosses to wideouts DJ Chark and Adam Thielen — time simply ran out on a would-be comeback drive. And while the Panthers’ offensive players could have sulked about a narrow defeat after the 33-30 loss, the spirit of the locker room was filled with optimism after a season-best performance by the rookie quarterback and his band of much-maligned offense playmakers and linemen.

“We’ve come a long way,” left guard Cade Mays said. “Obviously, it sucks not getting the outcome we wanted but we fought until the last second. Some crazy stuff going on in the game, but we’re making big steps.”

Young, who had struggled to find the end zone for more than a month, tossed two huge touchdowns passes to Chark in the fourth quarter.

The reigning No. 1 pick also threw for a season-high 312 passing yards and compiled a career-best 110.0 passer rating, as he avoided turnovers and led five scoring drives on the afternoon.

“He has been getting more comfortable,” Chark said. “Stepping up. Making plays. He is the same guy through it all though. But it is just good to see things go his way. Things haven’t been going our way all year, but I am happy to see things go his way. He deserves it more than anybody now.”

Chark put together his own season-best performance against the Packers. He was on the receiving end of Young’s two touchdown passes and collected 98 yards on six catches.

Chark, who signed a one-year with the Panthers in April, has been heavily criticized for his lack of consistency this year. But, as he did in last week’s win over the Atlanta Falcons, the veteran playmaker came up big in the moments when Young needed an outlet for a huge gain.

“He’s one of the most resilient guys I know,” Thielen said. “There have been a lot of tough circumstances for him this year and for him to just keep coming back to work and not going down in the dumps and letting the season go to waste, it’s probably as impressive as I’ve seen in just a guy as a person. It just shows the type of man that he is and how mature he is. I’m happy for him. He’s got so much talent and he can really change the games so much as an offense.”

Thielen, who is the team’s leader in catches and receiving yardage, also put forth a strong performance Sunday, catching 6 of 8 targets for 94 yards.

Following the matchup, Thielen and others expressed optimism about what the 30-point performance could mean for the team in its final two games.

While the Panthers have long been out of playoff contention, and they have little to play for but pride, the veterans of the group think this offensive performance shows the capabilities the oft-criticized unit.

“That was the excitement coming out of training camp with us spreading the ball around — get a lot of guys involved to a lot of guys that can make plays from a lot of different position groups,” Thielen said. “The way the O-line played in the second half and really giving Bryce the ability to go out there and be who he is, a distributor and a guy that can make plays with his feet, with the ball in the air so I think we just need to build off of that.”

Offensive coordinator Thomas Brown was able to get the most out of his group with a variety of play calls throughout the game.

From presnap motions to a treasure trove of deep shots, Brown dialed up a balanced passing attack that paid off with a campaign-best point total. The Panthers also put up 394 net yards against Green Bay.

“He kept us in the game the entire game,” tight end Tommy Tremble said. “Like when stuff wasn’t going good, he called the plays to get us back in there. And when we found a rhythm, he kept us in rhythm, and that was awesome.”

And while there are few silver linings for a 2-13 last-place squad, the vibe of the locker room shouldn’t be completely dismissed. With two games left on the slate, the Panthers are believing in their offense, and that could lead to some spoiler alerts for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers down the stretch.

The Panthers will be fishing in January, but they want to take their next two opponents on the trip with them.