The Carolina Panthers held off a late push from the Detroit Lions to earn a Week 4 victory in primetime.
For the first time in 11 seasons, the Carolina Panthers hosted Sunday Night Football as the city of Charlotte has waited for it. And on Sunday, the Panthers made it worth it.
Quarterback Bryce Young put on a show to lead the way for the Panthers in their 32-26 win over the Detroit Lions in Week 4. The win moved Carolina to 2-2 on the year as they head into the bye week.
While Carolina jumped out to an early lead, and led by two scores late, they fought off a Lions charge. Leading 32-19 after a Ryan Fitzgerald field goal with 8:59 left, the Lions were stopped on third and 20 in Panthers' territory before deciding to punt. They got the ball back and Jared Goff hit Sam LaPorta for a touchdown to cut the lead to 32-26. The Lions then forced a stop on defense.
That set the scene for the Panthers' defense to end the game.
Detroit couldn't pick up a first down after getting the ball back down just six as Carolina's defense sacked Goff and then forced two-straight incompletions to end the drive. The Panthers then kneeled on the ball to wrap it up.
The story of Sunday' night's game was Young, however.
With Carolina up 7-6 early, Young hit wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan for a 32-yard touchdown to extend the Panthers lead. As the two teams went back and forth, the Panthers came out of halftime hot.
Young and McMillan connected once again, this time for 10 yards to extend Carolina's lead to 22-16. After another Jake Bates field goal, Chuba Hubbard found the end zone from two yards out to give Carolina a 29-19 lead. It was Hubbard's second touchdown of the game.
Fitzgerald added another field goal before LaPorta's touchdown which wrapped up the scoring.
Young finished the game 29 of 41 for 329 yards, two touchdowns, 0 interceptions and a passer rating of 110.7. His hot start to the season continued and Young now leads the NFL in passing yards through four weeks.
Sunday night's showing was much-needed for Carolina, coming off a tough loss to Cleveland in Week 3. But it also showed what this offense can be capable of as Young and McMillan connected through the air and Hubbard got it done on the ground.
Carolina now heads into this bye week with some confidence and a chance to reset in a way. They will travel to face off against Philadelphia in Week 6.
