You will have to see this Carolina Panthers stat to believe it.
The Carolina Panthers entered their Week 10 matchup with the New Orleans Saints as 5.5-point favorites at home following a huge road win over the Green Bay Packers, but in typical Panthers fashion, disaster unfolded.
Carolina's offense was never really able to get off the ground in a 17-7 loss to the Saints, who entered the game with just one win on the season.
Bryce Young struggled once again, Rico Dowdle's dominance faded and all of the good will the Panthers had built up in the week leading up to the affair essentially disintegrated.
But here's the real kicker: Carolina has now lost 11 straight games in which it has been favored, the longest such skid in the Super Bowl era.
That is an absolutely wild stat and obviously goes far beyond Young, Dave Canales or just about anyone currently associated with the Panthers.
Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young. Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images.On the bright side, the only game in which Carolina might be favored again the rest of the way is Week 15 at New Orleans, so maybe the Panthers will go an a little winning streak here?
But seriously, every time it looks like the Panthers are turning a corner, something sabotages it. Carolina was actually resembling a legitimate playoff contender and could have improved to 6-4 had it simply taken care of business against the Saints at home.
Instead, the Panthers find themselves at 5-5 with back-to-back road matchups against the Atlanta Falcons and San Francisco 49ers on their slate for Weeks 11 and 12, and don't think for a second the Falcons don't have this game circled on their calendar after Carolina thumped them 30-0 back in Week 3.
The good news is that the Panthers have certainly made some progress this season. They aren't one of the worst teams in the NFL, and it's clear that their defense has improved significantly after being the worst unit in league history last season (although star cornerback Jaycee Horn definitely had a couple of embarrassing moments on Sunday).
That being said, Carolina still clearly has a long way to go before it can call itself a serious football team in terms of contending for much of anything, and a lot of that has to do with what is going on under center.