5 takeaways from Carolina Panthers’ loss to San Francisco 49ers in prime time
Jaycee Horn came up with two interceptions. Mike Jackson added another. All in the first half.
And yet, the Carolina Panthers could do virtually nothing with them.
Such was the story of the Panthers’ only prime-time contest of 2025: Carolina (6-6) was given plenty of opportunities to steal a win in San Francisco and command sole possession of the NFC South; instead, the team fell to the 49ers, 20-9 — and unearthed a lot of issues in the process.
Here are five takeaways from the Panthers’ loss.
Some late life for Bryce Young, but not enough
Bryce Young had a day to remember last week against the Atlanta Falcons. A franchise-record 448 passing yards. Three touchdowns. No interceptions.
On Monday, he regressed to the mean.
Young finished 18 of 29 for 169 yards and a touchdown in Levi’s Stadium. He also had two interceptions and was sacked once for eight yards. That all yielded a passer rating of 60.8.
Young’s most consequential sin came in the first quarter, from the 1-yard line, when on a roll-out he lofted an errant pass to Mitchell Evans into the arms of 49ers safety Ji’Ayir Brown. He wasn’t successful pushing the ball downfield the rest of the game, either, mainly only finding success in swing passes and in short-yardage situations.
His receiving corps wasn’t of much help. His leading receiver was running back Rico Dowdle, who caught all four of his targets for 36 yards. Tetairoa McMillan only caught two of his seven targets — for 35 yards and a score — but also dropped a pass early on in the first half that would’ve been a first down and failed to haul at least one other catchable ball.
No emphasis on the run game
By their first possession of the fourth quarter, the Panthers’ running backs had only notched nine runs. Chuba Hubbard had three carries and Dowdle had six. They combined for 54 rushing yards — 6 yards per carry.
That’s how much the running backs would end with, too.
Such a fact is a bit confusing when you marry that with the fact that the Panthers’ strength this year has been their run game. Carolina, after all, has only seen two games where its quarterback has thrown for over 200 yards — and both were statistical irregularities.
The Panthers only notched 12 first downs (to the 49ers’ 23), went 1 of 7 on third down and only commanded 22:18 in time of possession. A solid rushing attack could’ve quelled both of these concerns and relieved the defense of its razor-thin margin for error.
Christian McCaffrey reminds the Panthers who he is ... early
Christian McCaffrey came into Week 12 ranked 13th in rushing yards and ninth in receiving yards. His usage rate, in other words, remains remarkably high — something that was true even when he was playing for the Panthers from 2017-22.
And McCaffrey picked up right where he left off Monday.
The nine-year NFL veteran touched the ball the first five plays from scrimmage and nine times on the team’s 15-play, 72-yard opening drive. He earned 40 yards from scrimmage that possession, one that lasted 8 minutes, 43 seconds and yielded a touchdown.
At the half, McCaffrey had 43 rushing yards and 40 receiving yards. Those 83 yards from scrimmage out-gained the entire Panthers offense in the first half — by 11 yards.
McCaffrey’s final stat-line: 24 carries, 89 yards, one touchdown; seven catches on seven targets for 53 yards. That’s 142 yards from scrimmage.
Panthers win turnover battle but lose game
For as much as this Panthers loss felt familiar — an injury along the offensive line, a difficult outing for Young and so on — the Panthers did experience one “first” of 2025.
Even if it was a bit of an unpleasant one.
For the first time this season, Carolina won the turnover battle yet lost the game, adding a new wrinkle to this confounding season. The Panthers forced three 49ers turnovers (and just missed recovering a fumble) and only gave up two.
The Panthers had won the turnover battle four times coming into Monday: twice against the Falcons, once against the Jets and once against the Packers. All wins. They’d lost the turnover battle six times — only prevailing twice of those six games, against Miami and Dallas — and they’d tied the turnover battle once (a lopsided loss to the New England Patriots).
A look at the fine print explains this week’s aberration. Take a look at the Panthers’ three picks:
- The first came on the 49ers’ second drive, when 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy launched a ball over the middle late and behind his intended receiver for 2024 Pro Bowl cornerback Jaycee Horn to rise up and get. (That set the Panthers up 16 yards away from the end zone. They gained 15, but on the fourth play from scrimmage, Young on a bootleg sailed that aforementioned interception. No points.)
- The second Panthers pick came via Mike Jackson, on the ensuing drive, in the Panthers end zone. (Carolina punted three plays later.)
- And the third interception came from Horn again. (This time, the Panthers were set up 33 yards from pay dirt, but despite gaining 26 of those yards in seven plays, they had to settle for a field goal.)
So in short: Carolina could only wring out three points from three first-half turnovers, spoiling a career-bad half from Purdy and a career-great half from Horn, who now is tied for the league lead of five interceptions with defensive backs Kevin Byard III and Nashon Wright — both of whom play for the Chicago Bears.
Key injuries plague Panthers again
The Panthers were hit pretty hard by injuries Monday. And they were pretty banged up as it was.
Carolina already was down starting center Cade Mays (ankle) and starting inside linebackers Christian Rozeboom (hamstring) and Trevin Wallace (shoulder) coming into its contest in San Francisco. The team exited with even more issues.
That includes guard Chandler Zavala (calf), who went down on the first play of the second half and didn’t return. He’s been in and out of the lineup all year.
That also includes cornerback Corey Thornton (ankle), inside linebacker Claudin Cherelus (concussion) and Horn — who suffered a concussion sometime in the first half, played through it and then didn’t return in the second half.
Inside linebacker Krys Barnes — who was called up from the practice squad and notched a start Monday — was being evaluated for a concussion in the fourth quarter, too. He returned to finish the contest, however.
This story was originally published November 24, 2025 at 11:23 PM.
