Bryce Young stated his MVP case in spectacular performance on Sunday Night Football

In primetime on Sunday night with the whole world watching, former Alabama QB Bryce Young put up an MVP-like performance in leading the Carolina Panthers to a 32-26 win over the Detroit Lions.

Young picked apart the Lions' secondary early and often with ruthless efficiency. And he did it without two of his top receivers, with both Jalen Coker and Xavier Legette out with injury. He leaned on Tetairoa McMillan and got a good contribution from former Tide teammate John Metchie in leading Carolina to a critical win to get to 2-2 on the season.

Young finished 29-of-41 for 329 yards and two touchdowns in the win. He completed his first 11 passes of the night and was consistently dropping dimes like this throughout the evening:

Through four weeks, Young is leading the NFL in passing yards with 1268. He's tied for third with nine touchdowns, and he's 5th in the league in QBR at 74.6. He's doing all of that with a patchwork supporting cast. Carolina is dealing with numerous injuries to the offensive line to go along with the two missing starting WRs.

He's consistently having to work the pocket to avoid pressure. Alabama fans remember his magician-like work in navigating defenders in the pocket and making something out of nothing. That hasn't changed in the NFL.

His numbers speak for themselves:

Bryce Young is playing like one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL

We talked about it after Week 2: the Carolina Panthers are going to have to pony up this offseason to keep Young. He's going to command a monster contract extension, one they weren't willing to give him heading into this season. His year-four breakout was foreshadowed during Training Camp, and he's living up to the considerable hype he generated this offseason.

He looks like a legitimate MVP candidate, though the Panthers will have to continue to string together performances like we saw last night on Sunday Night Football for Young to have a real shot at the award. The MVP isn't necessarily the "best player on the best team" in the NFL, but it certainly helps to pilot a really good team.

No NFL MVP has been on a non-playoff team since OJ Simpson won it in 1973 with the Buffalo Bills.

The performance in primetime should have Young's stock trending up. If you left it up to his teammates, they've already made up their minds:

Regardless of his standing in the MVP race, Young continues to prove that the premature "bust" label he was saddled with after just 13 career starts was laughable.

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