CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Time literally ran out on the Carolina Panthers in Sunday's 33-30 loss to the Green Bay Packers, but it may have been just the beginning of rookie quarterback Bryce Young's time as a rising star in the NFL.
The top pick of the draft had his first 300-yard passing game for a career-best 113.0 passer rating and was within a tick of the clock from the Green Bay 31-yard line of sending the game into overtime with a field goal.
But those that witnessed Young's near-heroic effort believe Sunday was just a glimpse of what the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner can be when receivers make plays and he's given time to throw.
"There's so much more to come,'' said wide receiver DJ Chark, who had a season-high six catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns. "He's making plays, he's comfortable, but that's who we know him to be, at least in this locker room.
"We believed in him the whole way through. And three, four, five years from now he's going to be definitely at the top, if not one of the top QBs out there.''
Wide receiver Adam Thielen agreed.
"Watch out,'' Thielen said after catching six passes for 94 yards to help the Panthers erase multiple double-digit deficits. "He's got the hot hand, as we say. Obviously super impressive and excited to build on that.''
Young completed 23 of 35 pass attempts for 312 yards and two touchdowns with no turnovers in a game that nearly got out of hand early with Green Bay jumping to a 13-3 lead.
He also rushed four times for 17 yards, including two on his first NFL quarterback sneak for a first down.
His effort came a week after engineering a game-winning 90-yard drive that interim coach Chris Tabor called a big step in the quarterback's development, just as he did again after Sunday's effort.
"He was in complete control,'' Tabor said. "Our quarterback is playing confident. He's a good player. I always said he was a good player. You saw it today.''
Had two plays gone different, Young and the Panthers (2-13) might have been looking at their second straight win. The first came with 2:39 remaining when officials ruled a 36-yard pass from Packers' quarterback Jordan Love to wide receiver Romeo Doubs was good in front of the Carolina bench.
Thielen, who had a bird's-eye view of the play standing only a few feet away, didn't see it as a catch.
"I saw a catch, and then the ball moving as he's going to the ground,'' Thielen said. "He controls it again, hits the ground and then loses it again. In my opinion, the ball moved twice, so there really wasn't enough time to control the ball.
"So kind of what you get when you play the Packers.''
That play set up the game-winning 32-yard field goal with 19 seconds remaining.
Young still had time for two throws when he took over from his own 25. He completed two 22-yard passes, the first to Chark and second to Thielen. He tried to spike the ball as the final seconds ticked off to give Eddy Pineiro a shot at a tying field goal, but the officials ruled time expired.
Replay officials in New York City confirmed the ruling on the field, but when asked if he thought a second remained, Tabor deadpanned, "Absolutely.''
Young didn't question the play, but believed the effort of the offense "was as good as we've been as a unit.''
Young has been saying all season he had the weapons to succeed offensively, but until Sunday there has been little evidence. Carolina hadn't scored an offensive touchdown in two straight games and had gone seven straight without a touchdown in the first half before a 20-yard reverse by Ihmir Smith-Marsette.
Young and the offense seemed to take off from there, albeit he was facing a defense that has struggled. A week ago, Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield became the first visiting quarterback with a perfect passer rating (158.3) at Green Bay's Lambeau Field.
Mayfield had four touchdown passes and 381 yards passing.
That being said, Young took advantage of what he was given, something he hadn't done to this level all season when critics were suggesting Carolina made a mistake taking him over C.J. Stroud, who went No. 2 to the Houston Texans.
"The sting is that we lost,'' Young said. "You can try to make up whatever moral victory you want with whatever. At the end of the day, we do this to win, and we didn't get that done. I didn't do enough. We didn't do enough. "We all take accountability for that. There's stuff to learn from, stuff to build off of it. But it's fresh right now. We didn't get the job done. Ultimately, we've still got to be better.''