Laughter in the rain: Panthers roll to a joyous, unlikely upset over L.A. Rams
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Panthers upset L.A. Rams 31-28, improving to 7-6 and bolstering playoff positioning.
- Bryce Young delivered 3 TD passes of 30-plus yards, as well as career-high passer rating.
- Panthers defense forced three turnovers, including 2 interceptions of Matthew Stafford.
What in the weird world of NFL football was that?
The Carolina Panthers pulled off one of the more implausible wins in their recent history Sunday, upsetting the Los Angeles Rams, 31-28, before a shivery and gleeful home crowd at Bank of America Stadium.
The win sent the Panthers (7-6) into their bye week with a rush of happiness and a spot firmly in the playoff mix, as they defeated what was the No. 1 team in the NFC entering the afternoon. The Rams (9-3) had won six games in a row and looked like a juggernaut behind quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Stafford had been nearly perfect for months, throwing 27 touchdown passes since his last interception more than 300 passes ago. But by day’s end, Stafford had committed three critical turnovers, including two picks.
Who would have guessed before this game Bryce Young would thoroughly outplay Stafford? And yet that’s what happened, as Young had three touchdown passes, all of 30-plus yards, along with a career-high passer rating and another game-winning drive.
“They’re from Cali,” said Panthers cornerback Mike Jackson, who had a stunning 48-yard, pick-6 interception of Stafford in the second quarter and was still holding the ball he caught afterward in the locker room. “So they (the Rams) are used to 75 (degrees) and nice weather. It was cloudy. Wet. Moody. So it was just one of those games where it’s just like, ‘Who really wants it out there?’”
The Panthers wanted it, and with the victory stayed a half-game behind Tampa Bay (7-5) in the NFC South division race. In their final four games, the Panthers will play the Buccaneers twice, and those two matchups will almost certainly decide who wins the South and the accompanying first-round playoff home game that goes with it.
Carolina and head coach Dave Canales were heavily criticized for not running the ball enough in a Monday night loss to San Francisco. But this time they ran it 40 times and only threw it 20.
“It was a rocking game,” Panthers center Austin Corbett said. “And those cold, kind of windy, rainy games like that — where it’s just grimy, it’s dirty, running the ball — that’s what you look for as an offensive lineman.”
This was one of the biggest bangs for the buck in Panthers history, too, if you bought tickets on the secondary market.
As of Sunday morning, there were hundreds of upper-deck tickets that fans were trying to get rid of, selling them for as little as $20 apiece. The iffy weather forecast, the Thanksgiving weekend, the expected loss by the home team — all those things were factors. But those who bundled up and showed up in Charlotte saw one of the most entertaining home games of the past decade for the Panthers, as the lead ping-ponged back and forth before Young’s 43-yard pass to rookie Tetairoa McMillan with 6:34 to go won the darn thing.
The Rams got the ball back one more time after that, trailing 31-28, but defensive tackle Derrick Brown caused his second turnover of the game. Brown already had deflected a ball (with his helmet!) that caused Stafford’s first interception. This time, with the Rams in field-goal range, Brown sacked Stafford and Carolina’s D.J. Wonnum picked up the resulting fumble.
“If we’re being honest,” Brown said, “nobody gave us a chance to beat these guys after (we lost) Monday night. ... It just shows the resilience of this team, and being able to come in this week and say, ‘Screw everything, we have an opportunity.’”
Carolina ran out the final 2:25 after Brown’s strip-sack, with Young’s third-down pass to Jalen Coker providing the final first down needed.
Said Canales: “The fans showed up in the weather. It was wet. They were loud, and it was noticeable on the third downs, especially at the end.”
Canales noted that he said in the team’s pregame meetings Saturday night: “You know, we’ve seen the Rams’ best football, and they’ve been playing amazing.”
However, Canales continued: “No one’s seen our best yet.’’
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This was what the Panthers’ best looked like. Carolina couldn’t have played much better — winning the turnover battle 3-0 and making one enormous play after another. Young’s passer rating of 147.1 was a career high, and he had touchdown passes of 33 yards to Coker (on fourth down), 35 to Chuba Hubbard and 43 to McMillan (also on fourth down). Jackson had his pick-6 interception, when he jumped a sideline route intended for Puka Nacua, for Carolina’s fourth touchdown.
The game also marked a resurgence for Hubbard, who had been relegated to the second string behind Rico Dowdle but in this game had almost exactly the same number of touches. At one point in the third quarter, as Hubbard bulled for one first down after another, the crowd started chanting: “Chuba! Chuba!”
“I did hear a little bit of that,” Hubbard said. “It was definitely cool.”
For Young, this was the 11th game-winning drive of his career, and at age 24, he is the youngest quarterback in NFL history to reach that milestone. Of course, the Panthers have been behind for most of his career, so he’s had a lot of opportunities. But still, Young has reached a new level this season — not every week, but on many weeks.
Stafford, meanwhile, looked unstoppable at some times but error-prone at others.”Obviously, we’re not going to win a whole lot of games when I turn it over three times,” Stafford told reporters later.
The Panthers had been motivated, Jackson said, by all the talk of Stafford as the unstoppable QB who is the NFL’s presumptive most valuable player this season.
“Superman with no cape,” as Jackson put it.
But in this game, Stafford was intercepted on consecutive series. “All week, we just kept hearing how Stafford is so good, it’s almost like he’s invincible,” Jackson said. “And don’t get me wrong, the dude’s a great quarterback. But it’s about who’s better that day. And he can make mistakes.”
He certainly can. And while the Panthers made some Sunday — understandable with a short-handed secondary — they stayed away from the big ones.
“I’m so proud of this group — the resilience, the finish, the ability to really just go blow for blow with an amazing team,” Canales said.
And it was amazing. The Panthers can rest for a week now, but they can hardly rest on their laurels. Next up is a generally woeful New Orleans team on Dec. 14 that somehow beat Carolina at home already once this season.
Carolina is in the conversation, though, as the calendar turns to December. It’s been a long time.
This story was originally published November 30, 2025 at 7:18 PM.
