Reacts Results: Panthers fans wary, with wavering trust in Bryce Young

To be polite, fans of the Carolina Panthers struggled to find much about their team to be thankful for this week. Suspicious playcalling and bad quarterbacking spoiled a huge potential upset against the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football. Nascent conversations about the playoffs turned back into debates over just how big of a problem Bryce Young is for the future of this franchise.

Confidence fell from a near season high of 84% to a middling 59% after the hapless loss to the 49ers. Fans were quick to excuse a loss to the New Orleans Saints after a record-setting passing performance against the Atlanta Falcons. Unfortunately, Young has had more games like those against the Saints and 49ers than he has like those against the Falcons and, uh, the Falcons.

The fact of the matter is that despite already eclipsing their 2023 and 2024 win totals, the Carolina Panthers haven’t built much in the way of faith in their fans. That is largely due to the fact that Young has had more bad games than good and fans have largely soured on his present prospects. Improvements across the team are clear to see, but the fact is that the team lacks an all-important level of competency at quarterback. That leaves little room to trust that those improvements are sustainable or something that the team can continue to build on.

To put it bluntly, open receivers are useless if Young cannot or will not get the ball to them.

Fans are tentatively hopeful that Canales will ever actually commit to the running game and find success with as little exposure to Young as possible. There is still a narrow path to the playoffs with that strategy. Even having that conversation on the eve of December marks a better season than the Carolina Panthers have seen since Ron Rivera’s job here was safe. That’s something. But it won’t be enough for long.