The Carolina Panthers' 2-2 Record Might Be Lying to Us

I don't know what to make of this Panthers team, and I thought I did after Week 1. Carolina gave up 59 points and 552 yards to Chicago, including 291 on the ground. There wasn't much about that game that made me think we were going to be having a much different conversation four weeks later.

Then Carolina went to Atlanta and won 34-3, and suddenly I wasn't so sure. Was Chicago just one really bad game, or was Atlanta the one we shouldn't read too much into? I wanted to see it again before changing my mind about anything.

Four games in, the Panthers are 2-2, and I still don't completely know what they are. But after watching the last three games, I'm starting to wonder if that record is underselling them a little bit.

I'm Still Trying to Figure Out Which Team Is Real

I've probably spent too much time thinking about that Chicago game. I know it was only Week 1, but when you give up 59 points and let a team run for almost 300 yards, that's going to stick with me for a while.

That's why I wasn't ready to make too much out of what happened in Atlanta. Carolina looked like a completely different team, especially defensively, but I needed to see more than one good Sunday before I was ready to believe Week 1 was just a bad day.

Then came Cleveland, and that game might bother me even more now than it did when it happened. Carolina had 360 yards, held the Browns to 259, and had the lead with less than five minutes left. The Panthers had every opportunity to leave Cleveland 2-1, and somehow they came home with a 21-18 loss.

I know you can't go back and turn a loss into a win because you think a team should've won. Carolina didn't finish the game, and that's on them. But when I'm trying to figure out whether this team is really just an average 2-2 team, I can't completely ignore what happened that afternoon, either.

Then Detroit came to Charlotte, and I picked the Lions 31-27. I thought Detroit was the better team, and with all the injuries Carolina was dealing with, especially in the secondary, I wasn't sure the Panthers had enough to keep up for four quarters.

They did. And they won.

I Still Don't Completely Trust the Defense

This is probably the biggest thing keeping me from going all in on Carolina right now. Detroit had 452 yards Sunday night, Jared Goff threw for 412, and there were definitely times when I thought the Lions were going to keep moving the ball and eventually take control.

And yeah, I still remember Chicago. Maybe I've brought that game up too much over the last few weeks, but 59 points is hard for me to just forget.

At the same time, maybe I need to start letting it go a little bit. Carolina has played three games since then, and Atlanta scored three points while Cleveland managed only 259 yards. Detroit moved the ball all night, but when the Lions needed one more conversion to stay alive, Carolina's defense got the stop.

I'm not telling you this is suddenly a great defense because I don't think it is. There are still things that bother me, and all the injuries in the secondary aren't going to make me feel any better about it.

But maybe Week 1 isn't who they are, either.

Bryce Young Is Making This Harder to Ignore

This is probably where I've changed my mind the most through four games. I've kept saying I wanted to see Bryce Young do it again, and every week he keeps giving me another reason to stop asking.

Young threw for 329 yards and two touchdowns against Detroit. Tetairoa McMillan had 14 catches for 192 yards and two touchdowns, and Chuba Hubbard finally gave Carolina the running game I've been asking for with 122 yards.

That's starting to look like a pretty good offense to me.

Obviously, McMillan isn't going to catch 14 passes every week, and Hubbard isn't going to run for 122 every Sunday. Young is going to have bad throws and probably a bad game somewhere along the way. That's football.

What I'm not going to keep doing is treating every good performance like something that needs to be proven again the following week. We're four games into the season now, and Young keeps playing well. McMillan looks like a legitimate No. 1 receiver, and we just saw what this offense can look like when Hubbard gets going, too.

At some point, I have to judge what I'm actually watching.

So What Does 2-2 Really Tell Us?

Sep 27, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Browns running back Raheim Sanders (23)avoids a tackle by Carolina Panthers cornerback Jaycee Horn (8) during the fourth quarter at Huntington Bank Field. Mandatory Credit: Scott Galvin-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

This is where I keep coming back to Cleveland. If Carolina finishes that game, we're talking about a 3-1 team right now that has won three straight and just knocked off Detroit on Sunday Night Football.

I know that's not how this works. A loss is a loss, and nobody is giving the Panthers that game back. But I also think we'd be having a completely different conversation about this team right now if they had finished it.

Maybe 2-2 really is exactly what Carolina is. There are still enough problems on defense and enough injuries that I'm not ready to start talking about the playoffs four games into the season. I want to see what this team looks like coming out of the bye, especially with Philadelphia waiting on the other side.

But I know I'm looking at the Panthers differently than I was after Week 1. Back then, I was wondering how bad this season might get.

Now I'm starting to wonder how good they might actually be.

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