The Panthers won their first game since Week 9 of the 2019 season—a little under eleven months ago. The newest thing for Panthers fans watching from home was that they looked a little bit like they were kind of trying to win. Maybe. Forgive the equivocation, it’s just been so long since they have both tried and succeeded in winning a close a game that I forgot quite what that effort looked like.
Now, with four turnovers, their first two sacks of the season, and another fumble that lost the Chargers offense eighteen yards on a first down, it might be reasonable to say that this game never should have been close.