The Green Bay Packers began Sunday as 13.5-point favorites against the Carolina Panthers, who played a banged-up quarterback in Bryce Young behind an even more banged-up offensive line — one which was
missing three starters due to injury. The Packers managed to outgain the Panthers 369 yards to 265 yards in the game, but Green Bay’s five red zone attempts resulted in a lost fumble, two field goals, a turnover on downs and finally a touchdown with 2:32 left in the fourth quarter.
The Panthers responded to the Packers tying the game late with a nine-play 40-yard drive that ended in a Ryan Fitzgerald walk-off field goal for the win.
As Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur said in his press conference, the Panthers’ style of play on Sunday was expected. Young only threw for just 102 yards, while the ground game put up 163 yards. On defense, Carolina played a bend-don’t-break deep shell zone defense that forced the Packers to check the ball down or run for virtually the entire game.
Ultimately, Green Bay had to play 16 third- and fourth-down plays on offense. They moved the chains on first down just three times during the entire game.
To add insult to injury, ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, citing ESPN Research, reported that the 13.5-point line that the Packers were favored by was the highest in a Green Bay loss since the AFL/NFL merger, when this number first began to be tracked.
The last time that team was favored by that many points and lost was when the 2023 Miami Dolphins dropped to the Tennessee Titans in a 28-27 Week 14 game. The Dolphins, then 9-3, wound up losing four of their next six games to end the season.
It’s going to take a lot to wash the stink away from this Panthers loss.
