Quarterback Bryce Young threw two fourth-down touchdown passes in the second half as the Carolina Panthers stunned the Los Angeles Rams 31-28 on Sunday.

Carolina was coming off a 20-9 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night that dropped the Panthers to 6-6 in the 2025 NFL season. The Rams came to Charlotte, North Carolina, on a six-game winning streak that had lifted Los Angeles to the best record in the NFC at 9-2.

But Carolina came through with the last of the game’s five lead changes when Young connected with wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan for a 43-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-2 with 6:34 to play on a rainy day at Bank of America Stadium.

“I always feel confident with Bryce in those situations,” Carolina coach Dave Canales said. “The bigger the stakes, the higher the moments, he stays the same in terms of his execution, and it allows me to just call the best thing for that area.”

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It appeared the game was headed for a sixth lead change – or at least a tie score – when the Rams reached the Carolina 17-yard line with 2:34 to play. But former Auburn All-American Derrick Brown caused Los Angeles quarterback Matthew Stafford to fumble, and the Panthers recovered the loose football.

Young completed a third-and-5 pass to wide receiver Jalen Coker for a 10-yard gain on the final snap before the two-minute warning, and when play resumed, the Carolina QB kneeled out the victory.

Young had connected with Coker on a 33-yard touchdown pass on a fourth-and-3 throw to close Carolina’s first possession of the second half. The touchdown put the Panthers up 24-21 with 8:48 remaining in the third quarter.

“I just trust my guys,” Young said about the fourth-down throws. “There’s no big conversation, no big hurrah. I’m super grateful to have guys like that on the perimeter that I trust and need to have in situations, fourth downs. Trust them to win one-on-ones, trust them to win 50-50 balls, trust that I can throw them open, whatever it may be. We have a ton of competitors. They did a great job of going and getting those balls, putting themselves in those situations on those fourth downs.”

A miracle catch by Los Angeles wide receiver Puka Nacua put the Rams at the Carolina 7-yard line, and running back Kyren Williams scored on the next snap as Los Angeles regained a 28-24 lead with 9:58 remaining.

Young has been the starting quarterback in 13 games won by Carolina. In 11 of those games, he led a scoring drive in the fourth quarter or overtime that put the Panthers ahead for good, with Sunday’s covering 65 yards in six plays

“The thing that I appreciate about Bryce is regardless of the moment, regardless of the time of the game or the score, when I put the ball in his hands, he stays the same,” Canales said. “He stays even, his eyes are in the right place and then he executes the play and finds his best available receiver, and that’s the part that I love just being able to count on with Bryce.”

Young completed 15-of-20 passes for 206 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions for a career-high passing-efficiency rating of 147.1. The former Alabama All-American was 8-of-10 on third- and fourth-down throws for 142 yards and three touchdowns. Young also ran for 23 yards on five carries and was sacked twice.

Young’s first touchdown was a short pass that running back Chuba Hubbard turned into a 35-yard score with 7:38 left in the first quarter as Carolina matched Los Angeles’ TD on the game’s first series.

Stafford entered Sunday leading the NFL with 30 touchdown passes and a 113.7 passing-efficiency rating. He hadn’t thrown an interception since Sept. 21.

But the Panthers intercepted Stafford twice – in the end zone to end Los Angeles’ second possession and a 48-yard pick-six by former Spain Park High School standout Mike Jackson that gave Carolina a 14-7 lead with 1:10 left in the first quarter.

The Rams ran for 152 yards in the game, but the Panthers had 164 yards with 19 more rushing attempts as Carolina built a 10:32 time-of-possession advantage.

“That’s a really good unit out there, a really good front,” Young said of the ground game, “and for everyone to take that challenge, to step up and want to find our best, that means a lot.”

Carolina gets a week off after its victory and will return from its bye week on Dec. 14, when the Panthers play the New Orleans Saints at 3:25 p.m. CST at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

At 7-6, Carolina enters December one-half game behind the 7-5 Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the top of the NFC South standings with four games remaining. The Panthers play the Bucs on Dec. 21 and Jan. 4.

Carolina’s most recently had entered December with a winning record in 2018, when the Panthers were 6-5 on their way to a 7-9 finish.

“We want to take it one game at a time,” Young said. “It’s stuff we can’t control. We can’t look too far ahead. But we know that there’s stuff at stake. For us, it’s just being consistent with our process. That’s the thing about this team. It’s never needed motivation. It’s never needed incentive to go and chase greatness. So for us, we’ll have a week to reset, and we’ll come back and we’ll take it week to week.”