CHARLOTTE - For a few weeks, Bryce Young and the Panthers had built something that at least looked like momentum. On Sunday, all of it got ripped apart in front of a home crowd that turned on the team fast and loud after Tampa Bay blew the game open.
The boos started after a Buccaneers strip-sack-scoop-and-score pushed Carolina into a 17-0 hole, and they kept coming as the afternoon spiraled into a 43-13 loss. The Panthers are still sitting alone at 3-3 atop the NFC South because the division has stumbled around them, but this one felt like a gut punch from start to finish. Baker Mayfield, meanwhile, kept his odd little ownership of Carolina intact, moving to 7-1 in his career against the Panthers.
The game unraveled almost immediately. On Tampa Bay’s first drive, Carolina already had given up more rushing yards than it allowed in either of its previous two games - 47 on that opening possession alone, compared with 46 against the Lions and 35 against the Eagles in those earlier outings.
Then came the turnover avalanche: a muffed punt by David Moore, the strip sack that turned into a Bucs touchdown, and Young’s first interception since Week 3. That wasn’t even the full disaster.
Ryan Fitzgerald’s extra point was blocked by Bucs safety Tykee Smith and returned by Zyon McCollum into the opposite end zone for two points.
Young threw another interception in the third quarter, and the offensive line started leaking pressure everywhere in the second half. He was sacked five times for 32 yards, and the silver lining - if there was one - is that he got out of there healthy ahead of Thursday Night Football against the Green Bay Packers.
The quarterback finished 14 of 27 for 163 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions, good for a season-worst 51.9 passer rating. It was his first multiple-turnover game of 2026, and his first fumble of the year.
His top targets were Tetairoa McMillan, who caught four passes for 40 yards, Darren Waller, who had one catch for 50 yards and a touchdown, and Chuba Hubbard, who added four receptions for 27 yards. Brycen Tremayne got only one target, and it came on fourth down inside the Panthers’ 5-yard line, where he dropped a ball that would have at least made the margin more manageable.
Hubbard also ran seven times for 33 yards. Later, with 10:21 left and the Panthers buried 43-6, Kenny Pickett came on in relief.
Tampa Bay controlled every meaningful number on the sheet. The Buccaneers finished with more total net yards, 322 to 266, more rushing yards, 258 to 88, and a lopsided edge in time of possession, 35:18 to 24:03.
Even the halftime ceremony for Luke Kuechly, honored after his recent Pro Football Hall of Fame induction, couldn’t lift the mood much. There were cheers, the kind that might have sounded like “Luuuuuke,” but on a day like this they were easy to lose in the noise.
A few things drove Carolina’s collapse, and the offensive line was at the center of it. The first sack came on the opening drive, when left tackle Rasheed Walker was bull-rushed by Yaya Diaby on a three-man rush.
Not long after, right guard Robert Hunt got beaten cleanly inside on a four-man rush, setting up the sack-fumble that became a Tampa Bay touchdown. Then came the biggest blow: in the third quarter, Taylor Moton went down after Young was sacked, stayed on the turf and slammed his hand down in frustration before trainers came out.
He was carted off and later ruled out with an ankle and fibula injury. Moton had just returned last week from blood clots.
Mayfield didn’t have to empty the clip to do damage. His most notable throw came in the second quarter, when he escaped pressure in the backfield long enough for Tez Johnson to get open for a touchdown.
He strutted in front of the Panthers sideline after the play, but there was no real need for more. By the time the fourth quarter arrived, his work was basically done.
Mayfield finished 7 of 11 for 64 yards and a touchdown, good for a 109.7 passer rating. He also ran once for one yard, but Tampa Bay leaned on the ground game all afternoon, handing off 42 times as Mayfield returned from a dislocated thumb on his throwing hand. The Buccaneers’ training staff had built a special glove for him, though he barely needed it.
Special teams only deepened the mess for Carolina. The muffed punt and blocked extra point already made sure of that, and a coach was also flagged for sideline interference on a special teams play. The one small bright spot came from Tre Tyus, who handled some snaps out of the backfield and scored his first career rushing touchdown on a 12-yard run.
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