- May 21, 2026
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The good news for the Panthers was that they put 37 points on the board in their first game of the 2026 season.
Sunday's bad news was that still left them 22 points behind their opposition. The Bears offense tore the Panthers defense apart in a 59-37 win that went down as the highest-scoring Week 1 game in the history of the NFL.
After the game, linebacker Jaelan Phillips was asked if he found himself looking at the scoreboard trying to make sense of what he saw.
"Many times, yeah, especially towards the end," Phillips said, via the team's website. "I mean, 59 is an ugly, ugly score to put up as a defense, so it's embarrassing. But at the end of the day, you know, I do think that it's a good opportunity for us. It's a critical moment in the sense that, you know, getting beat this badly as a defense is really going to define us moving forward in terms of the urgency that we have to make corrections and to get better, so you know it's all good, man."
The Panthers gave up the most points in league history during the 2024 season, but stuck with defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero and improved last year. Bringing in Phillips and linebacker Devin Lloyd was designed to continue that improvement.
Sunday was a major step back and head coach Dave Canales said in his press conference that the team needs to "find solutions for what's going on" because more of the same is going to make for a long, ugly season for Carolina.
Sunday's bad news was that still left them 22 points behind their opposition. The Bears offense tore the Panthers defense apart in a 59-37 win that went down as the highest-scoring Week 1 game in the history of the NFL.
After the game, linebacker Jaelan Phillips was asked if he found himself looking at the scoreboard trying to make sense of what he saw.
"Many times, yeah, especially towards the end," Phillips said, via the team's website. "I mean, 59 is an ugly, ugly score to put up as a defense, so it's embarrassing. But at the end of the day, you know, I do think that it's a good opportunity for us. It's a critical moment in the sense that, you know, getting beat this badly as a defense is really going to define us moving forward in terms of the urgency that we have to make corrections and to get better, so you know it's all good, man."
The Panthers gave up the most points in league history during the 2024 season, but stuck with defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero and improved last year. Bringing in Phillips and linebacker Devin Lloyd was designed to continue that improvement.
Sunday was a major step back and head coach Dave Canales said in his press conference that the team needs to "find solutions for what's going on" because more of the same is going to make for a long, ugly season for Carolina.