Carolina Panthers benching Bryce Young is another organizational failure

Week 2 was another dismal outing for a Carolina Panthers team that is desperately searching for an identity and any kind of spark. Just looking solely at the body language of the players, it is already make or break for most. This is so sad to see for fans.

Football is a game - it should be fun to play and watch. Something that hasn't been present in Carolina for many years.

While a lot of things continue to go wrong for this organization, one thing stood out like a lighthouse in a winter gale. The play of quarterback Bryce Young.

Some sections of the fanbase made no qualms about their displeasure with the handling and development of Young over his first season. These struggles reached a boiling point against the Los Angeles Chargers.

It is never good when your quarterback sets or gets close to multiple records for the worst performance in NFL history. Even more so when the seat was already getting a bit toasty to say the very least.

Carolina Panthers shattered Bryce Young's confidence from the moment he was drafted

This bears more significance with the fact Young only threw for 84 total yards on 26 attempts, 18 of these being completed. To add further insult, the troubled quarterback has not thrown a touchdown yet this year and boasts three interceptions to his name.

The writing was already on the wall. There was a significant lack of confidence in Young's ability with the play calling last season and to begin 2024. There was a clear lack of any kind of downfield ability and it was painful to watch.

Looking at the reaction after Young's interception was all you needed to see. When a player has that look - one of defeat - they have lost their edge. It was time to call it. You cannot be a quarterback in the NFL without confidence in your abilities and the second-year player has lost it.

Dave Canales benched the No. 1 overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft just two games into his head coaching tenure. However, there is still time for Young to develop and improve if allowed to do so. It was not the right decision to start him immediately, as it very rarely is for any rookie quarterback.

The Panthers' defense held up for the most part, even with constantly being put in bad positions by this offense. However, the run-stopping is still a glaring concern for this team without the presence of Derrick Brown.

With that said, every part of this team showed improvement in Week 2. The Panthers as a whole were much better prepared and did not look constantly outmatched. The special teams held up much better. Other than one blown play, the secondary was masterful.

The odd man out was the offense.

Something needed to change. That came with the insertion of veteran Andy Dalton as the new starting signal-caller. While this will not lead Carolina to the promised land of the Super Bowl, or even to the playoffs, what it will do is provide a solid evaluation of the talent with a stable hand behind center.

We have to know what the skill players are capable of. When your quarterback cannot make even the simplest of passes, it is impossible to do so. The fact Young couldn't produce the goods was organizational malpractice from the moment he walked into the building.

The Panthers are not ready to compete. But who knows what they are capable of with even an average quarterback under center?

Hopefully, we will finally be able to find that out. And if it all goes wrong, at least the Panthers have their first-round pick in 2025.

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