The Carolina Panthers and head coach Dave Canales are building themselves up one brick at a time.
Canales spoke with reporters on Thursday, following last night’s official release of the team’s 2025 schedule. Their slate, for the first time in two years, features a primetime game—a Monday night matchup against the San Francisco 49ers.
After being shut out from the late-night spotlight in his first year at the helm in 2024, Canales was asked what the recognition now feels like.
“I just love the opportunities to be able to play those types of games,” he replied. “There’s a couple of extra cameras. You get to play under the lights against a great opponent. And those are the types of games that we need to become who we are.
“And the challenge is to go on the road, go across the country and really feel the high-stakes games as we build this and we compete to win the division. The hope is that we are working ourselves into that mentality of, ‘This is another game.’ We go about our preparation and our work the same way, so we can just go out there and play our best.”
They’ll go out to Santa Clara for Week 12, where former Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey and company are set to host.
Carolina’s last Monday night outing came back in Week 2 of the 2023 campaign, when they fell to the New Orleans Saints in a 20-17 loss at Bank of America Stadium.
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