NFL Power Rankings: Bills, Texans on the rise heading into Super Wild Card Weekend

The Ravens were afforded the luxury of resting MVP favorite Lamar Jackson and a half-dozen other starters on Saturday, and they exited the day without any additional injuries. That was the main goal of what ended up being a loss to the Steelers, although you can bet Baltimore also would have relished sending rival Pittsburgh home with a schadenfreude-inducing defeat. That didn’t happen; instead, the only team to beat the Ravens twice this season will now end up in the playoffs. If the Steelers beat the Bills on Super Wild Card Weekend, they’ll be right back at M&T Bank Stadium a week from then. The Ravens have had previous playoff disappointments, including in 2019, when they were even more dominant in the regular season than they were in 2023, winning 12 straight down the stretch before it came crashing down in a shocking loss to the Titans. There’s a special feel to this team, and Baltimore played some of its best ball of the season just prior to Week 18. But it’s also good to remember that nothing is guaranteed once the playoffs begin.

It was a Sam Darnold game on Sunday, as Brock Purdy got some much-needed rest, with the NFC West title and No. 1 playoff seed all sewn up. Darnold looked pretty good, just as he did when relieving Purdy in the Week 16 loss to the Ravens, so the 49ers have to feel much better about their QB2 situation heading into the postseason than they did one year ago at this time. (We know how that run ended.) It was also good to see Elijah Mitchell and Jordan Mason turn in solid games against the Rams, building on their positive late-season showings. The 49ers know they must protect their best commodities, and Christian McCaffrey is going to be leaned on heavily in the playoffs, however long their stay is. As with Darnold and the QB position, Mitchell and Mason showed they could provide enough insurance at running back, even if neither can replicate what CMC does.

Mike McCarthy’s first game against his former team was a nightmare, with three Christian Watson touchdowns burning the Cowboys in an overtime loss at Lambeau Field in Week 10 last season. This one will be at AT&T Stadium, where Dallas has won 16 straight games — and the Cowboys boat-raced a few of those opponents early. Still, the Packers have played much better on the road down the stretch and won’t come into this game intimidated; in fact, it feels like there is more pressure on Dallas’ side right now. The Cowboys are the favorites, playing in the place where few visitors win, whereas the Packers were 6-8 a few weeks ago and seemed likely to miss the playoffs. Now we have a terrific QB battle between the rock-steady Dak Prescott and the emerging Jordan Love, who comes in riding high. We assume Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and the Cowboys’ passing game will hum. Can this Dallas defense make a signature play on a huge stage? A sliver of McCarthy’s legacy might depend on it.

Which Josh Allen will we get against the Steelers? First-half-against-Miami Allen? That was the guy who threw two end-zone interceptions and was lucky Trent Sherfield caught his batted pass for a touchdown. Or will we get second-half Allen, who — though he did lose a big fumble at the Miami 28 late in the third quarter and was stopped on a late sneak attempt — willed the Bills to victory? Allen completed 14 of 15 passes for 141 yards and a touchdown in the second half, also converting five third/fourth downs with his legs, including an absurd 15-yard scramble on third-and-13. I joked with a friend midgame that Josh probably uses a blowtorch to kill mosquitoes. Sometimes you roast ’em. Sometimes you burn down your backyard. Allen tried to set the grass ablaze in the first half, but in the end, the blowtorch won. The early weather reports for Sunday’s game suggest it could be … wintry. Bring on the thundersnow. I’ll be watching this puppy with Led Zeppelin’s “No Quarter” as my pregame hype music.

Dan Campbell wanted momentum heading into the playoffs, and darn it, that was what his team got. Sunday’s win over the Vikings wasn’t the prettiest thing the Lions have done in a season when they tied a franchise record for victories, but Detroit had solid showings and game-changing plays in all three phases. That said, there’s always the fear of a key player getting hurt in Week 18, like the Chargers’ Mike Williams did last season, and we’ll have to see if the mid-game injuries suffered by TE Sam LaPorta and WR-PR Kalif Raymond are serious or not. Both have played big roles for the Lions, especially LaPorta, who set rookie tight end marks for receiving, while Raymond has returned every punt this season for Detroit. Either way, the Lions should celebrate their first playoff game since the 2016 postseason and their first home postseason game in three decades. If Ford Field isn’t buzzing with absolutely nuclear-grade energy before kickoff, I’ll be stunned.

Unless you’re a sicko who is already thinking about expanded roles for Alex Wright and David Bell next season, there wasn’t much for Browns fans to take away from Sunday’s meaningless loss to the Bengals. Playoff mania has taken over Cleveland, as Joe Flacco, Amari Cooper, Myles Garrett and select other starters were rested in preparation for Super Wild Card Weekend, when Cleveland will head to Houston. On the surface, one might assume the Browns should be confident, given they just smashed the Texans a few weeks back, taking a 36-7 lead early in the fourth quarter in NRG Stadium before a few garbage-time TDs brought the final score closer. But there’s one catch: That was with Case Keenum and Davis Mills at quarterback for Houston, not C.J. Stroud, who missed two games after he suffered a concussion. Stroud has looked like he’s back in rare rookie form over the past two weeks. Flacco was starting NFL games when Stroud was 6 years old. Now they’re going head to head for a spot in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.

First of all, God bless the Next Gen Stats crew for this Sunday beauty: “Chris Jones reached a top speed of 14.85 miles per hour running to the sideline on his sack celebration, which would’ve been his second-fastest speed on any play Sunday.” If you hadn’t heard, Jones was out there with the Chiefs’ second-team defense well into the second half, needing only half a sack to hit a performance bonus, an accomplishment he achieved when he hunted down Easton Stick. A massive celebration ensued. It tells you everything you need to know about how the Chiefs feel about Jones. Now, while holding out for the deal he is playing on, Jones missed the Chiefs’ Week 1 loss to Detroit, which, along with a few other losses, put this team in an unusual spot: acting as the hunter, not the target, in the playoffs. Kansas City’s inconsistencies from the regular season could carry over into the playoffs, and it wouldn’t be shocking. But when it comes to picking against Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid and Jones, I am just not there yet. 

A season doesn’t turn more violently than the Dolphins’ did Sunday night. Miami went into halftime with a lead and even stopped the Bills on their first possession of the second half. Nothing right happened offensively after that, and dreams of an AFC East title and a home playoff game were ripped away. The defense owes its small share for this one, allowing one huge Josh Allen play after another in the second half after confounding him in the first. Another crippling injury (to Andrew Van Ginkel) sunk its teeth into an already chewed-up defense that can’t really afford to lose anyone else. The Deonte Harty return gave the Bills the life they needed after stalling a few times, and the rest was history. Now the Dolphins have to limp into Arrowhead Stadium and try to beat a Chiefs team they lost to in Germany while facing big questions about all three units. Not ideal.

One year ago, Lovie Smith was leading a late comeback that cost the Texans the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. On Saturday, the “consolation prize” they received, second overall pick C.J. Stroud, put on a terrific show in a win-or-else victory at Indianapolis. Then, the Jaguars coughed up the AFC South, and the Texans will host a playoff game for the first time in four years. This rebuild happened faster than almost anyone could have predicted, and it’s turned DeMeco Ryans — already a borderline legend in Houston — into a rookie coaching star. Between that and breathtaking debut seasons from Stroud, Will Anderson Jr. and (before he was hurt) Tank Dell, this has unquestionably been one of the most unexpectedly productive calendar years in franchise history. This doesn’t strike me as a team willing to go into Super Wild Card Weekend carefree. The Browns stomped the Stroud-less Texans in Houston not too long ago, and you know Ryans is going to remind the team about that a few dozen times this week.

Everything about this Rams team screams dangerous heading into the playoffs — except for a kicking situation that continues to confound. The storyline heading into the Super Wild Card Weekend game against the Lions will be the obvious one: Matthew Stafford coming back to face his old team for the first time in Detroit. (He already got the first reunion out of the way in Los Angeles in Week 7 of the 2021 season, during the Rams’ run to the Super Bowl, but there will be no downplaying this upcoming high-stakes rematch.) There are some matchups that favor the Rams, with rookie record-breaker Puka Nacua and a rested Cooper Kupp set to face a thinned Detroit secondary. The Lions might also be without their rookie pass-catching star, TE Sam LaPorta. But will it matter if the Rams don’t have any confidence in whoever ends up kicking for them? The special teams uncertainty is the biggest thing that scares me about this group.

If you want you talk yourself into the Eagles’ loss to the Giants “not meaning much,” have at it. Meanwhile, I’ll be wondering how a team that came into this season with a lot of pride — and for darned good reason — let its last regular-season opportunity to send a message saying “We’ve got this” pass by so helplessly. Maybe the veterans were subconsciously storing up some gas for next Monday’s game, but come on! Philly came into the weekend with a chance to soar all the way up to the No. 2 seed in the NFC, so motivation shouldn’t have been a problem. I’m sure it isn’t very easy to ratchet things up when a team is fried — like these Eagles look to be — and doesn’t control its own fate. But then, the Eagles did have a chance to control their fate in Week 17 and still flopped, so this is the bed in which they now must sleep. It’s wild to say it aloud, but it’s hard to find a potential rallying cry for a team whose biggest opponent right now might be itself.

You’d have liked to see the offense head into the playoffs with a little more momentum, but the Bucs will take Sunday’s 9-0 meatgrinder of a win, along with the home playoff game that came with it. And lookie here: The Eagles, who stormed out to a 10-1 start (including a dominant victory over Tampa) this season, forgot to throw the landing gear down and crashed their way into a 1-5 finish, with losses to the Cardinals and Giants. Can this Bucs team now beat Philly on Monday? Absolutely. But it’s going to take a return to the form Tampa Bay discovered prior to Weeks 17 and 18, during a four-game win streak when Baker Mayfield and the offense found rhythm, scoring more consistently, and the defense made far more impactful plays than it had before. That the Bucs are catching an Eagles team that looks totally burned out increases the chances of that happening, one would assume.

We have all offseason to look back on Jordan Love‘s first year starting and only a few days to look forward to Green Bay’s big playoff showdown in Dallas. But what Love accomplished — particularly down the stretch — must be put in some kind of proper perspective. At midseason, some observers were wondering if the Packers would draft a quarterback in Round 1 in 2024. From the Week 10 loss to Pittsburgh on, however, Love threw 18 TD passes against only one interception and led Green Bay to six victories in eight games. He also did something neither Brett Favre nor Aaron Rodgers did in their first seasons starting: taking Green Bay into the playoffs. Facing Mike McCarthy certainly adds to the hype before Sunday’s game, and Love has a chance to add an unexpected chapter to his legacy by securing a road victory. Whatever happens this weekend, Love’s breakout season must be recognized for what it was: a star was born. He absolutely will be brimming with confidence heading into the playoffs. 

The Steelers refuse to make anything easy for themselves — but they sure as heck haven’t left the party yet, either. Riding a fairly hot Mason Rudolph and an emerging run game into an inside-straight playoff berth, the Steelers certainly can’t be dismissed. They overcame dozens of hurdles, including some self-erected ones, to emerge as survivors. The extra callouses built up over a trying season should theoretically help them in a tough road game against a Bills team that is suddenly cooking, and the expected returns of Minkah Fitzpatrick (from injury) and Damontae Kazee (from suspension) should help a stretched secondary deal with Josh Allen and Buffalo’s passing game. Yet, the likely absence of the injured T.J. Watt will not help — not with the Steelers needing all the defensive firepower they can muster. The chances of an upset don’t feel exceptionally high, but then again, neither did most of the things that happened during the Steelers’ season. 

EDITOR’S UPDATE: Steelers coach Mike Tomlin announced on Tuesday that T.J. Watt (knee) has been ruled out of Sunday’s Super Wild Card Weekend game versus the Bills.

A game that should have given Dennis Allen a chance to be proud of his team, even as the Saints missed the postseason, ended in a moment that seemingly called into question his control of the locker room. When Jameis Winston went rogue on the Saints’ final play of the blowout of the Falcons, calling for Jamaal Williams to score instead of taking a knee as Allen wanted, he set off a mini-firestorm about Allen and his command of the team. Winston said it was “a team decision,” admitting he and his teammates overruled their coach. Perhaps this story would have withered on the vine had New Orleans made the playoffs, but that’s not what happened. Allen’s group played pretty well down the stretch, and he’ll be back next season. Allen also said there was no “fracture” within the team. But that wasn’t exactly the ideal beginning to the offseason.

At some point, some real heat has to come down on Trevor Lawrence. He built up quite a bit of goodwill in Year 2 and during parts of his third season, but Jacksonville’s 0-5 record in his final five starts was alarming. Lawrence’s mistakes in Sunday’s loss — including a failed sneak and a late overthrow of Calvin Ridley — cut deeper with the Jaguars knowing exactly what they needed to do to get into the postseason. Credit Lawrence for his toughness; his consecutive-starts streak is over, but he played a few games this season that other quarterbacks might have sat out. Still, Lawrence had a chance to stamp a big fat “no doubt” on his upcoming offseason, which could have led to a contract extension, but that all feels a bit murky now. Lawrence’s standing with the team appears to remain firm, but we were left with more questions about him than I anticipated entering 2023 — or even in late November, when the team was sitting pretty at 8-3.

It has taken me a few days to try to come up with some reasoning for the fourth-down failure that cost the Colts a chance to get into the postseason. What I keep coming back to is: What if Tyler Goodson made the play? Granted, he hadn’t touched the ball in the game to that point and had fewer than 50 NFL snaps to his name. And yes, Jonathan Taylor had dominated play Saturday night. All of that doesn’t provide much cover for Shane Steichen’s decision. I certainly can’t explain why Taylor wasn’t in on that fourth-down play; you might think his presence would draw some extra eyeballs while Goodson (or whoever) received the ball. But all of that is water under the bridge now. It always felt like there was a cap to what this plucky Colts team could accomplish after losing starting QB Anthony Richardson early on. But that doesn’t make Week 18’s loss to the Texans any less painful. 

The return of Joe Burrow should keep the Bengals competitive, and perhaps even in the Super Bowl mix, in 2024. But the futures of Tee Higgins, Joe Mixon and Tyler Boyd (and possibly Jonah Williams and D.J. Reader, too) are very much up in the air. Also, there are immediate holes to patch, starting on defense (and specifically with a young secondary that never quite jelled this season), then branching out to several parts of the roster. There’s cap space to be used, plus the NFL draft, which the Bengals have done a mostly great job with over the past few years. Where the franchise really excelled in rising to excellence was self-evaluation, which will help the team decide whether players such as Higgins and Reader are worth spending on to keep. But the team also appeared to misevaluate its secondary last offseason, when Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell left. Those losses ended up being big. If the Bengals can be as boldly successful reshaping the roster as they were a few years ago, the good times could return again. 

The future of the Seahawks is opaque, despite some positive trends the past few seasons. The defense, in spite of some early-season noise, showed down the stretch that it needs a lot of work. Geno Smith, despite mounting five game-winning drives in 2023 (including one Sunday at Arizona), had an up-and-down age-33 season. The Seahawks finished with a winning record, but they also missed the postseason for only the fourth time under Pete Carroll. There’s a core of talent in place, but also some big holes — and not a ton of salary-cap room is expected. So projecting how this offseason or next season might go feels very speculative right now. There’s a path back to the kind of respectability they’ve had for a few seasons, but is there a clear road to upper-level success? That latter route is harder to picture for me.

Did interim coach Antonio Pierce and general manager Champ Kelly do enough to convince Mark Davis to remove the interim tags and keep them in charge? We don’t know Davis’ thinking on the matter, but there’s a strong case for him to do that. The Josh McDaniels/Dave Ziegler-led Raiders went 3-5, with veteran QB Jimmy Garoppolo making most starts, with a minus-61 point differential. After Pierce and Kelly took over, the Raiders went 5-4 behind Aidan O’Connell, a rookie QB drafted in the fourth round, while putting up a plus-62 point differential. Three of their final four losses were by one score. Almost every unit on the football team showed improvement. Las Vegas’ final nine games were slightly tougher, by opponents’ final record, than the first eight. And by all indications, the locker room is fully in support of Pierce and Kelly, with the fans’ chorus echoing this sentiment after a strong finish to the season in beating the Broncos. We’ll see if that suffices. If it does not, Davis would do well to ace his next moves, because not everyone would be happy with yet more change.

Team president Kevin Warren came on board just less than one year ago, overseeing a critical season for the franchise, when seemingly everything major — the coach, the GM, the QB and, heck, even the team’s stadium site — hung in the balance. We don’t yet know who will stay or go, and Warren might be smart to let a little dust settle after the disappointing Week 18 loss at Green Bay, which lent a bitter immediate aftertaste to the season’s otherwise strong and impressive finish. Presuming coach Matt Eberflus and GM Ryan Poles will return, the focus should then turn to what to do with Justin Fields, an offense that finished 20th in yards under coordinator Luke Getsy and, eventually, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. The Bears were one of the hotter teams in the NFL heading into the regular-season finale. But how one performs against Green Bay also carries a lot of weight in Chicago. Can the Bears shake the emotion and disappointment from both that defeat and the slow start to the season and choose the right path? If so, this team could make some noise in 2024.

The Vikings have now reached a flashpoint, finishing off a challenging Year 2 under Kevin O’Connell, and they’re heading into an offseason of unknowns. The biggest one is at quarterback, of course, where Kirk Cousins‘ status is the top storyline going right now. His contract voids in March. While a separation felt somewhat natural at the time of Cousins’ season-ending injury, back in October, it now feels as if the Vikings must do everything they can to at least first consider a short-term deal to keep Cousins in Minnesota before seeking options. Then again, Cousins turns 36 during training camp and will be coming off Achilles rehab. There’s also the matter of Justin Jefferson and his inevitable contract extension. Can the team get that done along with retaining Cousins? Watching Jefferson return from injury to dominate with a rotating cast of characters at QB might make some think Cousins is expendable. But if O’Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah enter their critical third year together — often a legacy-defining season for coach-GM combos — without more stability at QB, their tenure could end up being far shorter than one might have expected after their 13-4 record in 2022.

Sean Payton’s first season in Denver was a wild one, unfolding like a classic three-act play. Act 1 saw the Broncos stumble out to a 1-5 start, with the introduction and exposition of a team apparently still in rebuild. A funny thing happened in Act 2, however, as Denver won six of seven games to thrust itself into the playoff picture, providing a major plot turn after the miserable start. But as any good playwright knows, one surprising twist is rarely enough, and in the midst of a 1-3 skid that saw Denver drop from the postseason race, Payton benched Russell Wilson in what was all but the final denouement for your 2023 Broncos. The near-.500 record might provide some solace for a franchise that hasn’t had a winning mark since 2016, but it was disappointing how it unfolded in real time. What comes next — especially at QB — offers some titillating possibilities, as Jarrett Stidham likely didn’t do enough to lock up the starting job next season without some kind of challenge.

The Jets appear to be heading into the office ready to regroup for the 2024 season. Robert Saleh is expected back, as is most (if not all) of his staff. Aaron Rodgers is returning next season, and the hope is that he’ll actually play. Yes, the Jets finished on a mini-high, winning three of their final five games and ending an ignominious streak against the Patriots, for what that’s worth. But is this the right approach, just running things back and hoping for better results? Clearly, Rodgers’ injury was the death blow to the season, but given his age (he just turned 40) and the Jets’ interest in adding a veteran backup (and apparently moving on from Zach Wilson), the team is surely very aware that the insurance behind Rodgers has to be much, much stronger. Oh, and the offensive line likely needs a major refresh. If that unit doesn’t receive significant help, I’ll know not to get my hopes up too high.

You just knew Mike Vrabel wasn’t going to go out easily, especially when he was presented with the rare opportunity in Week 18 to knock out the team that knocked his team out of the playoffs a year before. Derrick Henry‘s brilliant turn-back-the-clock effort helped spur the win in fitting fashion, and then he all but said goodbye to Titans fans on the field afterward. His postgame comments kept the door open for a possible return in 2024, but it’s hard not to envision Henry playing elsewhere next season. Ryan Tannehill also has spoken like a man who might want to consider his outside options, especially with Will Levis having shown some potential in his starting audition down the stretch, even as injuries cropped up. So I don’t know what the Titans look like in 2024, but if major change is coming, Vrabel at least let some of the horses ride off with a proper sendoff. 

EDITOR’S UPDATE: The Titans fired head coach Mike Vrabel after six seasons at the helm on Tuesday.

As soon as the clock struck midnight on Sunday, the Falcons let out word that Arthur Smith no longer would be head coach, and it was back to the drawing board. Although not completely, as GM Terry Fontenot will continue to get the chance to build a roster that looked pretty solid coming into 2023. But quarterback issues cratered a season that started so promisingly at 2-0, with a fourth-quarter comeback led by Desmond Ridder. Ridder cooled off after a good start, crashed a few times, re-earned the starting job and then fell again in Week 18 after maybe his best 30 minutes of football in the first half of that game. It was a strange season, as Atlanta earned three of its seven victories against playoff-bound teams while also losing to four of the seven worst teams in the league by record. It can’t all be put on Ridder, as Smith’s offense failed to put his talented roster in the best position to succeed, but it’s clear now the team misevaluated how much the second-year signal-caller and journeyman Taylor Heinicke could do this season.  

The expectation is that Daniel Jones will be the Giants’ quarterback in 2024, but a lot could look different around him next season. Defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale resigned Monday after two seasons, and head coach Brian Daboll will determine if he needs to make other coaching staff changes. Then will come decisions on Saquon Barkley and some other key veterans. There are a few dozen free agents, so it’s fair to say there will be some considerable roster turnover, with some fan favorites, such as Sterling Shepard, perhaps having played their final game for the franchise. The offensive line must be fixed for good, and it appears to be multiple players away. It also seems likely the Giants bring in a quarterback this offseason, not knowing when Jones will be able to compete, coming off ACL rehab. So the to-do list is long, as is the wait to find out whether the 2024 Giants are more like the surprise group of 2022 or the disappointing one of 2023.

Cardinals backers will be — and should be — excited about what comes next. Even the most optimistic fan had to be pleased with how Jonathan Gannon’s first season went, despite the tough finishing record. The fact is that he coaxed a fine effort from a young, hodgepodge roster and survived more than half the season without Kyler Murray. Once Murray was healthy, the Cardinals were a pretty competitive team. No one will care about Matt Prater’s field-goal misses come April, when the Cardinals will be batting cleanup in the 2024 NFL Draft (along with holding the Texans’ first-rounder). At first blush, that looks like a pretty good place to be, especially if there’s a run on quarterbacks. Murray finished the season with three strong outings and said he’s having a blast with the team. I expect Arizona to go out and spend this offseason with the idea of being a contender in 2024.

Will Jim Harbaugh be on their radar? Is Kellen Moore a candidate to take over? Or do the Chargers have something else up their sleeve? There are some pros to the Chargers job, but the cons can’t be overlooked, even with an ace card in Justin Herbert, whose season ended a month early with a broken finger. The roster might look fairly talented now, but there’s a good chance some high-priced veterans will not be back. This team is going to look different next season, one way or another, but the head-coaching and GM hires should tell us a lot about what their expectations in 2024 will be. Having Herbert should mean they can field a competitive team, but going with first-timers in both key positions might not be met with overt optimism. These next few months will be critical.

It’s still hard to envision life after Bill Belichick in New England, if that’s how it ends up, although it became progressively easier to do so with each painful loss. But to go out like that? Against the Jets?! If that was indeed his final game at the helm, it shouldn’t have gone that way. Then again, Tom Landry’s final season in Dallas ended similarly. It happens. Coaching legends aren’t impervious from this sort of thing, especially after an extraordinarily long run with one franchise. Now Patriots fans find themselves in a strange place: entering a time of real uncertainty. Maybe a reset is needed, and owning the No. 3 pick feels like a very good place to be, depending on how the 2024 NFL Draft pool shakes out. But that wouldn’t make moving on from a coaching icon much easier.

Ron Rivera’s fate arrived Monday, when new owner Josh Harris fired him after the Commanders dropped their eighth straight game to close out another lost season. It wasn’t hard to imagine Harris thinking big with his next few consequential moves, but hiring Bob Myers from the NBA to help run the team wasn’t on my bingo card. It’s obviously a fascinating (and controversial) move that could have lasting effects. Harris and Myers will start with the changes coming in coaching and scouting, then can turn to what to do at quarterback following Sam Howell’s in-season regression. Since Harris bought the team, it appears he’s come in and taken a bird’s-eye view of the franchise. Now Harris has struck with his first lightning bolt in hiring Myers, and it will be fascinating to see how an outsider views the state of the franchise. There’s a lot to be done over the next six months, but the rebuild won’t be boring. 

The season crawled to a finish in a 9-0 snoozer that summed up everything that went wrong for the 2023 Panthers. A good Bryce Young play — a strike to DJ Chark that should have been a touchdown — ended poorly. A good defensive effort was spoiled. Not much else consequential happened. On Monday, GM Scott Fitterer, the man who aggressively traded up to ultimately take Young at No. 1 overall, was let go. All attention turns to who will fill that role and the head-coaching vacancy, presuming interim coach Chris Tabor isn’t retained. After that, the offseason must revolve around finding ways to unlock Young. Irrespective of C.J. Stroud’s success in Houston, Young’s production just hasn’t been good enough. It would not be fair to call him a bust yet because we don’t have nearly enough evidence, and a player with his pedigree of unusual success can’t be overlooked. But it seems like it’s going to take a village to help Young get back to that level in the NFL.