The Detroit Lions (2-1) are back on the road this Sunday night to take on the reigning NFC South champion Carolina Panthers (1-2), and the folks over at FanDuel Sportsbook have set the opening betting line at Lions -3 points.
In head coach Dave Canales’ first year with the Panthers, they went 5-12, but they improved last season, winning the South—albeit with an 8-9 record—before the Rams bounced them in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. Wanting to take advantage a developing team, the Panthers were aggressive in free agency, signing EDGE Jaelan Phillips (to replace DJ Wonnum, who signed with the Lions) and linebackers Devin Lloyd and Bobby Okereke to a budding defense, then adding OT Rasheed Walker, C Luke Fortner (to replace Cade Mays), and RB AJ Dillon to the offensive side of the ball. In the Draft, Carolina added another starting OT in Monroe Freeling, then snagged defensive tackle Lee Hunter in round two, and WR Chris Brazzell in the third (who is currently on injured reserve).
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In Week 1 of the 2026 season, the Panthers went toe-to-toe with the Bears offense, trading touchdowns before Chicago pulled away in the second half winning 59-37. In Week 2, the Panthers evened their record at 1-1 by jumping all over the Falcons 34-3, in a battle of NFC South rivals.
This past Sunday, the Panthers squared off with the Browns, and while Cleveland jumped out to a 10-0 lead, the Panthers kicked four unanswered field goals to make it a 12-10 score early in the fourth quarter. The Browns finally responded with a field goal of their own, but the Panthers went right back to work, drove the field, and scored their first touchdown of the game, but failed to make the two-point conversion, making it 18-13 with just over four minutes left to play. Unfortunately for Carolina, their defense couldn’t hold the lead. The Browns scored a touchdown and two-point conversion to take a 21-18 lead, then intercepted Bryce Young to seal the win.
The Browns laid out a decent blueprint for the Lions to utilize against the Panthers. Cleveland did well to stop the run early—though they did give up chunks of yardage late in the game—and they pestered Young with a reported 29 pressures (per PFF), which equated to pressure on 52% of their dropbacks (according to Next Gen Stats), yet Young still managed to throw for 291 yards.
Of course, the Lions could also take the Bears route and see how they fare in a shootout.
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