The Panthers have been the NFL’s most consistently inconsistent team this season.
A win over the Jets in Week 7 capped a three-game winning streak and lifted the team to 4-3 on the season, but the last nine games have featured no streaks in either direction. The Panthers lost to the Bills in Week 8, beat the Packers in Week 9 and they have kept alternating between losses and wins since that point.
Quarterback Bryce Young’s performances have followed a similar pattern. Young threw for 448 yards and three touchdowns in a Week 11 win over the Falcons and then threw a pair of interceptions in a loss to the 49ers the next week. He followed that up with a strong game to lead a win over the Rams and things have flip-flopped from there.
Week 17 was a down week for Young, which led to a question on Tuesday about whether he finds it easier to turn the page from a bad outing.
“You’re not going to like the answer,” Young said, via the team’s website. “But it’s really not any different. Again, good and bad come with sports, and I think that’s the maturity you have to have at this level. Coaches challenge us with it, and you really have to take it to heart, good or bad, you feel like things went well or didn’t, you have to flush it the same way. You have to have the same approach. So, I’ve been trying to do that for a while now, so, at this point, it’s the same.”
The big picture for the Panthers would look better if they could stack winning performances, but recent history says that Young and the Panthers are due for a good performance against the Buccaneers in Saturday afternoon’s battle for the NFC South so they’ll sign up for another rollercoaster ride to close out the regular season.
