CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Carolina Panthers suffered another lopsided loss with a 26-3 defeat to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Los Angeles led 20-0 at halftime and controlled the whole game by shutting down Carolina's anemic offense. Justin Herbert threw two touchdowns and J.K. Dobbins had 131 yards rushing in the win for the Chargers.
Carolina's biggest highlight came with Eddy Piñeiro's shutout-ending field goal in the third quarter when the Panthers were down 20-0. The Panthers did not even manage a first down until the last two minutes of the second quarter.
The loss drops the Panthers to 0-2 for the third straight year. Bryce Young had just 84 yards passing and one interception in the loss.
The Panthers' numbers were absolutely atrocious on Sunday. Carolina converted only 1 of 12 third down attempts, gained only 159 yards on offense, and picked up only seven first downs.
Head coach Dave Canales pointed to the third down failures as the key point to the team's loss. Despite losing the season's first two games by a combined 60 points, Canales said he appreciated the fight that the team has.
"[We] saw some improvement in terms of taking care of the ball," Canales said in a postgame news conference. "It really just came down to third down again. Just not acceptable from a coaching standpoint."
Even with Young's drastic game, Canales says he is committed to the quarterback.
"Bryce is our quarterback," Canales said. "We're going to fix the things we need to from a scheme standpoint."
A dejected Young had few words for reporters after the game.
"It starts with me," Young said. "I have to do a better job of executing. All of us as players have to do a better job at executing."
The Chargers scored on their first drive with a 29-yard pass from Herbert to Quentin Johnston. Los Angeles missed the extra point but the 6-0 lead proved to be all the Chargers needed.
Herbert wasn't perfect on Sunday, though. He threw an interception on the Chargers' next drive to Carolina's Jaycee Horn.
The second Chargers touchdown came in the second quarter with another Herbert pass to Johnston.
Chuba Hubbard picked up a Panthers' first down with a two-yard run with one minute left in the first half. The only significance of this was it was the first first down picked up by the Panthers the whole game.
The second half featured little action as the Chargers scored two field goals and the Panthers put together only one scoring drive.
Carolina's only score of the game was set up by a 12-yard pass to Tommy Tremble and a 23-yard run by Hubbard. The Panthers reached the red zone but settled for a 38-yard field goal from Piñeiro.