The Carolina Panthers suffered a truly historic embarrassment to start the 2026 season. Carolina got smacked around by Chicago, allowing a whopping 59 points in their season opener. One national analyst was not shy about criticizing Carolina's defense after such a pitiful showing.

ESPN's Dan Orlovsky absolutely ripped into the Panthers' defense during a recent interview after giving up 59 points to the Bears in Week 1.

“That Carolina Panthers defensive tape is putrid,” Orlovsky said on Monday, via The Pat McAfee Show. Orlovsky underscored his point by addressing his notes, then repeating multiple times “blown coverage because of motion” and “you lost contain.”

Carolina gave up a total of 552 total yards against Chicago. They also had three turnovers, which gave the Bears more opportunities to score more points and gain more yards.

After receiving some pushback, Orlovsky expanded on his original thought. He explained that on the whole, NFL defenses did not respond well to motion to start the 2026 season.

“I would tell you this, I don't know what the numbers say right now. I would think that this is probably the worst defensive performance by the league when it comes to handling motion that I've seen in years,” Orlovsky added. “We saw it last night in Dallas, multiple times just basic motions just causing total chaos for a defense. So I don't think Carolina's by themselves, we saw it in the Chargers game as well. So I think defenses as a whole, across the NFL, really struggled with adjusting to and handling motion.”

Article Continues Below

Other teams may have struggled in Week 1, but Carolina suffered the biggest embarrassment.

In fairness, Carolina kept pace with Chicago fairly well and moved the ball on offense. That won't amount to much if their defense doesn't improve, but it is one silver lining for Panthers fans.

Hopefully Carolina can get back on track in Week 2.

Next up for the Panthers is a road game against the Falcons. That NFC South battle will kick off at 1PM ET on September 20th from Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.