CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There were two big takeaways from David Tepper’s media availability this week, his first in nearly three years. The Carolina Panthers owner forgot or chose not to remember his 2023 NFL Draft night comments about needing fewer “elite receivers” because of Bryce Young’s ability to see the field and distribute the ball like a point guard.The other notable item that emerged from Tepper’s news gathering also involved his quarterback: avoiding the slow starts that have plagued Young and the Panthers the past three seasons.“We know we can come from behind. We’ve gotta start fast,” Tepper said Wednesday. “We’ve gotta start fast the season. We’ve gotta start fast (in) games. That’s it.”The Panthers have gone winless in Weeks 1 and 2 every year since 2023, when the Panthers pulled off a big trade with the Chicago Bears to take Young with the No. 1 pick. Young has been awful in those games, posting an NFL-worst 0-6 record (Russell Wilson was next closest at 0-4) and a 64.0 passer rating that is the lowest among 38 qualified passers.Why Bryce Young is looking for better start this seasonJoseph PersonYoung has a 58.1 completion percentage in Weeks 1 and 2 (the league average was 65.5 percent in that same span) and a 0.8 touchdown/interception rate (league average 2.0). Those early struggles prompted Frank Reich to give Young a Week 3 reset as a rookie (officially an ankle injury that sources have said Young could have played through) and led Dave Canales to bench Young after two games in 2024.The Panthers broke a seven-year playoff drought last season and reawakened their fanbase by winning the NFC South and taking the Los Angeles Rams to the wire in a wild-card game at Bank of America Stadium. Entering Sunday’s opener against the Chicago Bears, everyone in the organization — from the owner on down — understands the importance of a strong start to keep the good vibes flowing.“We’re gonna try not to start slow. Because that feeling of starting slow, like, ‘Ah, s–––, here it goes.’ And it’s not just us. Everybody feels that,” right guard Robert Hunt said. “So hopefully we don’t do that. We’re gonna come out, we’re gonna compete. We’re gonna fly around and hopefully we don’t start that way.”The Panthers have scored 10 points in each of Young’s three Week 1 starts, falling to the Atlanta Falcons (24-10) in 2023, the New Orleans Saints (47-10) in ’24 and the Jacksonville Jaguars (26-10) last season. Young has thrown two interceptions in each loss, been sacked seven times and finished with a passer rating below 50.0.“Every year’s a new year. We want to have an emphasis of starting fast. We talked about that a lot as a team, as a unit, as an organization,” Young said. “But we know that comes with work. It’s about just having the best week possible. Going into the game with as much clear communication and being on the same page as we can.”Young, who reached career highs in every major passing category last year, has been a magician in late-game situations. His 12 game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime are the most in the NFL since 2023, ahead of Patrick Mahomes, Bo Nix and Josh Allen (each with 10). Young trails only Justin Herbert (13) for the most game-winning drives for a quarterback under 25 since 1950.That’s impressive company. But Tepper suggested the Panthers cannot continue to live on the edge. “We can’t have all come-from-behind wins in the NFL,” he said. “If we get fast starts this year, fast starts to games, we’re gonna win.”In Young’s first year, when his top receivers were Adam Thielen, D.J. Chark and Jonathan Mingo, the Panthers finished 2-15 and became the only team in NFL history to play a full season without holding a lead in the fourth quarter. (Their two victories came on game-winning field goals by Eddy Pineiro as time expired.)Since Canales arrived in 2024, the Panthers have been outscored by 221 points in the first half of games, including a whopping 175-point second-quarter differential. They’ve been more competitive in the second half, getting outscored by 56 points.Canales said the message for Young and the rest of the team is consistency. “What we’ve seen is we can play really great quarters at times. Can we play full games consistently week in and week out?” he said. “And consistency means, hey, if we can play this well down the stretch of a game or we score more points in the second quarter, how about we just be consistent with all of it across the board?“That includes the first quarter. ‘Guys, we don’t need to wait around to kinda feel it out and see what’s happening. Let’s go get it.’”To try to get his team out of the gate quicker, Canales asked players to be prepared to rev up the tempo and intensity as soon as they entered the practice fields during training camp. “There can’t be a gradual easing into a practice,” Canales said. “My challenge to the guys was to replicate what it feels like to get your body ready so when you hit the grass, we’re ready to go.”Wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan said he noticed a difference in the energy in the early portions of practices this summer, but was oblivious to Canales’ intentions until a reporter mentioned it this week. “I didn’t know that’s what he was doing but I definitely felt it, for sure,” he said.McMillan, last year’s Offensive Rookie of the Year, said the Panthers’ six game-winning drives in 2025 were nice. But there’s a less stressful path to the win column.“It makes everything hard, not starting the way we wanted to, starting behind the sticks. You never want that,” he said. “But I think based off of last year, we’ve done a good job as far as being behind and coming back. You love to finish games in the fourth quarter, but we wanna make it easy on ourselves by just starting fast.”Offensive coordinator Brad Idzik, who will make his play-calling debut Sunday, believes maintaining a balanced attack and staying out of second- and third-and-longs can help Young succeed early against the Bears.“We know he’s special on the edge. We know he’s special on third down and he’s also special outside of the makeshift of the play. He can extend plays. And he does that early (and) often in games. So how do you put him in that mindset?” Idzik said.“It might not be a perfect set dropback, but it might be moving him off the spot early, getting him in that mindset but complementing it with the run game. Staying ahead of the sticks, that’s really the biggest thing.”Young’s Week 1 losses have all come on the road. Sunday’s game is the Panthers’ first season opener at BoA Stadium since 2022, when Baker Mayfield started at quarterback in a 26-24 loss to his former Cleveland Browns team.This week’s matchup features Young and Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, who was drafted No. 1 overall with a pick the Panthers sent to Chicago in that blockbuster trade that brought Young to Charlotte.But that storyline hasn’t received much play this week. Much of the pregame talk has focused on Young and the Panthers not falling into an early hole — in the game and their season.“Across the league, if you’re not taking advantage of every snap, every opportunity, every quarter, it’s hard to dig out of deficits at times. Obviously, that’s not something we ever want to do,” Young said.But Young knows as well as anyone that games don’t always unfold as planned.“We understand it’s an adversity league. It’s not something you ever want to be accustomed to,” Young said. “But football’s football. It’s part of it. And however things are, we can’t tuck our tail if things don’t go our way at any aspect — start, middle, finish. That’s part of the game and I’m excited for our journey.”