Abysmal Outing Causes Panthers' Bryce Young to Slip in QB Power Rankings

The Panthers QB's sterling year took a huge hit this week.

Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) looks on before the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Prior to Week 7's ugly loss, Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young was rightfully in the MVP conversation. He was facing immense pressure behind, let's face it, the worst offensive line in the NFL. That's not exactly hyperbole. Check this chart out.

seemed pretty freaking good until today

despite this pic.twitter.com/zzOvCZKBAA

— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) October 26, 2026

Unfortunately, he's going to have to do a lot of hard work to get back into the MVP conversation after an ugly contest. His brilliant start to the season has been muddied. Or has it? Was one game where literally everything went wrong truly enough to push him that far down?

Maybe not. The Athletic's Mike Jones does a weekly QB stock report. Young surged to a high of nine on that list after beating the Philadelphia Eagles. Some lists have had him higher than that, which suggests that this list is not as topsy-turvy or reactive as others.

Where Young is now backs that up. Jones dropped Young from ninth to 11th, so he's still essentially a top-10 quarterback. He's still one of the best in the NFL, even when you factor in a really poor outing. Young made mistakes and missed throws.

What Jones' list is saying is that these days happen. Almost every quarterback in the NFL has a bad game on their resume already, and it's Week 8. Even Josh Allen, the potential MVP, has a game with zero touchdowns and two picks with a 54.0 RTG.

In other words, it happens. The Buccaneers' defense was in rare form on Sunday, and once things got out of hand (thanks mostly to an egregiously porous run defense by the Panthers), they pinned their ears back and went after Young.

Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) looks to pass during the second half | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It was a difficult situation to be in from the third drive onward, and it never got better. Those kind of games are going to happen, but they don't dull Young's shine.

We suspect other QB rankings will be much harsher to Young. But it bears mentioning that a list from The Athletic isn't docking Young all that much. It's telling that the overall consensus on Young hasn't changed after one bad outing in which the Panthers were outclassed at virtually every position on the field.

Gone are the days when a bad game would imply that the Panthers need to make a change, it seems. Gone are the days that a Young benching for his own safety in a blowout comes with fans clamoring to see the backup start instead. This is growth for everyone.