Panthers lay another egg in Detroit. Could Carolina be the first NFL team to go 0-17?
Just when the Carolina Panthers appear to have found rock bottom this year, they stock up on shovels and start digging.
So it went in Detroit on Sunday, as the Panthers found several more new ways to go low, getting creamed, 42-24, by the Lions, for what was statistically their worst loss of the season.
The game was even more frustrating as usual for Carolina (0-5), the NFL’s last winless team in 2023, as the Panthers stuffed it full of terrible turnovers and cringey mistakes.
And it was scary for everybody when Carolina rookie guard Chandler Zavala went down with a neck injury in the first quarter.
The contest was stopped for several minutes while Zavala, a former N.C. State player, lay motionless and was tended to by medical personnel. Zavala was eventually carted off on his back, but held up a “thumbs up” sign with his left hand on his way out of the stadium to a Detroit hospital. The Panthers later reported that Zavala was alert and had movement in all his extremities and that he was released from the hospital and traveled home to Charlotte with the team.
Prayers up for Zavala.
But thumbs down to the Panthers’ performance, and once again for a franchise that can’t get out of its own way.
I’ll ask the question now, since we’re all pondering how bad this could actually get:
Could Carolina be the first NFL team to go 0-17?
The odds are against it. There have actually been worse Carolina teams than this one talent-wise (2010 was the absolute worst, and that team still went 2-14).
But 0-17 is theoretically still possible in Charlotte, and it is theoretically possible nowhere else in America this season. Teams have gone 0-16 before, but the NFL only expanded to a 17-game season in 2021.
I don’t think 0-17 will happen. Carolina’s first win could well come Oct. 29, at home against Houston.
But, if Carolina plays like it did Sunday for 12 more weeks in a row, it’s conceivable. And with each loss, it will be talked about more.
The worst part about that, of course: Carolina traded away its 2024 first-round pick to Chicago as part of the DJ Moore/Bryce Young trade. So if Carolina does finish with the worst record in the NFL, there’s no consolation prize of another No. 1 overall pick.
As for the current No. 1 pick, Young (25-for-41, 247 yards) had a mediocre day. Both of his interceptions were avoidable if he had just made better decisions. But he also threw three TD passes: A 1-yarder to tight end Tommy Tremble, an 18-yarder to DJ Chark and a 1-yarder to Adam Thielen. That marked Young’s first career three-TD day.
But Zavala’s injury and an 18-point loss were the overriding themes on this afternoon.
“It’s disappointing. It’s frustrating. It’s agonizing. It’s all those things,” Panthers coach Frank Reich said. “But I’ve never wavered in my belief in what we’re doing and how we’re doing it and what it takes to win. ... I’ve been through situations like this before, and got out of situations like this before.”
Sunday’s game was decided in the first half, when Detroit (4-1) converted three Carolina turnovers into three Lions touchdowns. Two of the turnovers came after Young interceptions. The third was due to running back Miles Sanders, who continued his unimpressive first year with Carolina with a lost fumble.
The Lions scored 21 points off those turnovers on offense, with Detroit quarterback Jared Goff (four total TDs) outplaying Young all afternoon despite missing his top receiver.
By the end of the first quarter Detroit had a 14-0 lead. By halftime, it was 28-10. By the first play of the fourth quarter, it was 35-10, before Carolina got a couple of fourth-quarter TD passes from Young to make the score sound better.
For the first time in five games, the Panthers really had no chance in the second half, as they never got closer than 18 points.
And this wasn’t all on the offense, either. Carolina’s defense, missing three of its four starters in the defensive secondary, got pushed and pulled all over the field. Detroit’s offense went 81 yards in only three plays on its first drive. The Lions ended up with 377 total yards, zero turnovers and six TDs.
So the Panthers got to Motor City on Sunday and wrecked their own car. And they sent a lot of fans watching the game on TV in the Carolinas outside to enjoy a crisp, beautiful day by the second half.
Count those fans as the lucky ones. The view outside was a lot better.
This story was originally published October 8, 2023 at 4:50 PM.
