Week 1 NFL Power Rankings Highlight the Work Panthers Need to Do

Despite a productive offseason, one analyst offered a so-so evaluation of Dave Canales’s team and singled out one player for the defending NFC South champions.

Aug 15, 2026; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) throws the ball against Buffalo Bills linebacker Greg Rousseau (15) during the first half at New Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Last night at Seattle, the reigning Super Bowl champion Seahawks kicked off the 2026 season with a hard-earned 13-10 victory over the New England Patriots in a rematch from Super Bowl LX.

This Sunday afternoon in Charlotte, there’s a clash between a pair of defending NFC division champion as Dave Canales’s Carolina Panthers take on Ben Johnson’s Chicago Bears.

Panthers in the bottom half of the most recent NFL Power Rankings

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Earlier this week, Bleacher Report’s quartet of veteran NFL writers—Gary Davenport, Kris Knox, Maurice Moton and Brent Sobleski—teamed up to come out with the site’s Power Rankings for the 2026 season. Canales’s club can be found at No. 22 on the list, putting them third in their own division behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (No. 18) and New Orleans Saints (No. 20).

Even more disappointing is the fact that the Panthers are the lowest-ranked playoff team from a year ago. Then again, they were the only NFL club to reach the postseason in 2025 with a losing record. And according to Davenport, this is an important year for Canales’s starting quarterback.

Is 2026 a make-or-break season for QB Bryce Young?

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“It’s now or never for Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers,” said Davenport. “Winning a division at 8-9 was hardly dominant, but a title is a title, and the Panthers showed promise at times last season—most notably with a Week 13 win over the Rams…”

However, it was a very up-and-down year for the emerging signal-caller and the team as well. From Weeks 7-17, the Panthers alternated wins and losses in a total of 10 games. While Young showed a knack for late-game heroics, he often struggled in the game’s first two quarters.

His final numbers in 2025 saw him hit on 63.6 percent of his passes. That added up to 3,011 yards through the air and 23 TD passes, and was picked off 11 times. He also lost four fumbles, hence a disappointing 15 turnovers in 16 regular-season outings.

Bryce Young has to play better in the first half of games

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A closer look shows that Young managed a 61.5 completion percentage before intermission of those games. He threw for just 1,311 yards and served up almost as many interceptions (7) as TD passes (8). But things would change in the second half. He threw for 1,700 yards and 15 scores, hitting on 65.5 percent of his tosses, and turn over the ball just five times.

Nonetheless, Davenport is not convinced that the Panthers are headed in the right direction and that Young is the solution behind center. “There are weapons in Carolina in wideouts Tetairoa McMillan and Jalen Coker. The Panthers spent big adding free agents on defense in linebacker Devin Lloyd and edge-rusher Jaelan Phillips. But it's still a flawed team—led by a flawed quarterback.”

That’s a lot of gloom and doom for a team that has won three more games than it did the previous season each of the last two years.