Young and McMillan Beat Lions

The Carolina Panthers beat the Detroit Lions 32⁠–⁠26 on Sunday night, 4 October, in Charlotte, North Carolina, in Week 4 of the NFL season on Sunday Night Football. Quarterback Bryce Young completed 29 of 41 passes for 329 yards and two touchdowns, both to receiver Tetairoa McMillan. McMillan caught 14 passes for a career-high 192 yards and those two scores (ESPN box score; AP via ESPN).

A catch is a completed pass; yards receiving are the distance gained on those catches. McMillan was the league’s Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2025. Two of Carolina’s top three receivers, Jalen Coker and Xavier Legette, sat out injured, so Young leaned on him. McMillan had nine catches for 147 yards in the first half alone, including a 32-yard touchdown. He later added a 10-yard scoring catch in the third quarter (ESPN box score; AP via ESPN).

Running back Chuba Hubbard carried 20 times for 122 yards and two touchdowns, from 15 yards and 2 yards. Kicker Ryan Fitzgerald made field goals from 47 and 33 yards. Two of Fitzgerald’s extra-point tries after McMillan’s touchdowns failed, which is why Carolina’s total stopped at 32 rather than climbing higher (ESPN scoring summary; ESPN box score).

Detroit quarterback Jared Goff threw 32 of 52 for 412 yards and one touchdown, an 8-yard pass to tight end Sam LaPorta with 3:38 left that cut the deficit to 32⁠–⁠26. Jahmyr Gibbs scored on a 1-yard run. Jake Bates made four field goals for Detroit, from 54, 43, 41 and 26 yards (ESPN box score; ESPN scoring summary).

The scoring summary, read in order, shows how the game moved. Bates’s 54-yard field goal opened it 3⁠–⁠0. Hubbard’s 15-yard run put Carolina ahead 7⁠–⁠3. Bates made it 7⁠–⁠6. McMillan’s 32-yard catch made it 13⁠–⁠6 after the missed kick. Gibbs tied it 13⁠–⁠13. Fitzgerald’s 47-yard kick made it 16⁠–⁠13, and Bates’s 41-yard kick at half-time left it 16⁠–⁠16. McMillan’s 10-yard score (another missed kick) made it 22⁠–⁠16. Bates cut it to 22⁠–⁠19. Hubbard’s 2-yard run stretched it to 29⁠–⁠19. Fitzgerald’s 33-yard field goal made it 32⁠–⁠19 early in the fourth. LaPorta’s late touchdown brought Detroit within six (ESPN scoring summary).

After that, McMillan still made a toe-tapping catch along the sideline for a first down that kept the clock moving, though the drive ended in a sack and a punt. Detroit’s last chance started at its own 13-yard line with 2:12 left. Goff could not pick up a first down. Young knelt twice to end it (AP via ESPN).

“Everything just clicked tonight,” McMillan said. Young, serenaded with “M-V-P” chants in the fourth quarter, said he never second-guessed throwing McMillan’s way. “I know what kind of player he is. He’s special. I always trust him.” Lions coach Dan Campbell said Detroit got itself in a hole and then could not finish when it had the ball with about two minutes left (AP via ESPN).

Both teams stand at 2⁠–⁠2. For Carolina it was a home win with half the usual receiving corps missing. For Detroit it was a road loss in which Goff threw for more than 400 yards and still came up short on the final drive (ESPN).

What changed on Sunday night in Charlotte is the same plain story as the box score. Young and McMillan connected for two touchdowns and 192 receiving yards. Hubbard ran for two more scores. Detroit climbed back within six and then failed to convert from its own 13. Week 4 left both clubs even at two wins and two losses.