The Detroit Lions (2-1) are again on the street this Sunday night time to tackle the reigning NFC South champion Carolina Panthers (1-2), and the oldsters over at okay have set the opening betting line at Lions -3 factors.
In head coach Dave Canales’ first yr with the Panthers, they went 5-12, however they improved final season, successful the South—albeit with an 8-9 document—earlier than the Rams bounced them within the Wild Card spherical of the playoffs. Eager to take benefit a creating group, the Panthers had been aggressive in free company, signing EDGE Jaelan Phillips (to switch DJ Wonnum, who signed with the Lions) and linebackers Devin Lloyd and Bobby Okereke to a budding protection, then including OT Rasheed Walker, C Luke Fortner (to switch Cade Mays), and RB AJ Dillon to the offensive aspect of the ball. Within the Draft, Carolina added one other beginning OT in Monroe Freeling, then snagged defensive deal with Lee Hunter in spherical two, and WR Chris Brazzell within the third (who’s at present on injured reserve).
In Week 1 of the 2026 season, the Panthers went toe-to-toe with the Bears offense, buying and selling touchdowns earlier than Chicago pulled away within the second half successful 59-37. In Week 2, the Panthers evened their document at 1-1 by leaping all around the Falcons 34-3, in a battle of NFC South rivals.
This previous Sunday, the Panthers squared off with the Browns, and whereas Cleveland jumped out to a 10-0 lead, the Panthers kicked 4 unanswered discipline targets to make it a 12-10 rating early within the fourth quarter. The Browns lastly responded with a discipline purpose of their very own, however the Panthers went proper again to work, drove the sector, and scored their first landing of the sport, however did not make the two-point conversion, making it 18-13 with simply over 4 minutes left to play. Sadly for Carolina, their protection couldn’t maintain the lead. The Browns scored a landing and two-point conversion to take a 21-18 lead, then intercepted Bryce Younger to seal the win.
The Browns laid out a good blueprint for the Lions to make the most of towards the Panthers. Cleveland did nicely to cease the run early—although they did surrender chunks of yardage late within the sport—they usually pestered Younger with a reported 29 pressures (per PFF), which equated to stress on 52% of their dropbacks (based on Subsequent Gen Stats), but Younger nonetheless managed to throw for 291 yards.
After all, the Lions might additionally take the Bears route and see how they fare in a shootout.
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