The Panthers got their first win of the season in Week Eight, but they weren’t able to build on it at home against the Colts on Sunday.
Colts cornerback Kenny Moore II returned two interceptions for touchdowns and rookie quarterback Bryce Young threw a third pick as Carolina fell to 1-7 with the 27-13 loss. After the game, head coach Frank Reich called it “a step backward” for Young and the offense as a whole but said he never thought about pulling Young from the game because this is all part of the learning process.
“It happens. You know what I mean? And I’m just not going to panic,” Reich said, via Darin Gantt of the team’s website. “Listen, I hate that it happened because, like we said, the defense played well. This is a game we should have . . . hey, I give them credit, they beat us. But, you know, I thought we had a great week of practice, and I expected us to win this game. Offensively, it happens. And as a quarterback, it happens. I told Bryce in there that I’ve seen the best quarterbacks in the game have way worse games than this. Way worse. So you don’t flinch. In some ways, it’s good for him to go through this. In some ways, it’s good to have to bounce back after something like this.”
Young won’t have to wait long for his opportunity to bounce back. The Panthers play the Bears on Thursday night, so they’ll need to shake off the bad vibes from Sunday as soon as possible if they want to avoid another disappointing performance.