If you had told me two months ago that this Monday Night Football game between the Panthers and the 49ers was going to be incredibly important for the NFC Wild Card picture, I probably would have laughed in your face. Yet here we are. It’s Week 12 and Carolina is 6-5, having won five of its last six matchups. Meanwhile, despite Brock Purdy only having started three games and a slew of defensive injuries, San Francisco is 7-4, looking to keep pace with Seattle and Los Angeles in the NFC West.
Let’s break down tonight’s action on the gridiron and explore some options for a same game parlay on the DraftKings Sportsbook.
Panthers vs. 49ers Same Game Parlay
- Alternante Spread: 49ers -6.5
- Bryce Young +200 Passing Yards
- Tetairoa McMillan Anytime Touchdown
Alternate Spread: 49ers -6.5
We’ll eat a little value here to get this line back under a touchdown. In general, my lean towards the 49ers in this game says more about I how trust the institution that is Kyle Shanahan’s tenure in San Francisco, and less about any hatred of the Panthers. If anything, I’m simply unsure of what exactly to make of a very uneven campaign in Carolina. As mentioned above, the Panthers have won five of their last six games entering Week 12, but the team trailed by multiple touchdowns in two of those five victories, while the lone loss came at home to a hapless Saints squad starting rookie QB Tyler Shough. Overall, Carolina is averaging a mere 18.8 points per contest — a mark better than only the Browns, Titans, Saints and Raiders. That’s a group that has combined to win eight total games in 2025. The Panthers also rank 27th in yards per play (5.0) and 25th in offensive EPA per play (-0.05), so this isn’t a cause of red zone unluckiness, either. When it comes down to it, I just don’t think the Carolina will have the firepower to keep up with the 49ers this evening.
Bryce Young 200+ Passing Yards
One of the Panthers’ biggest offensive issues has been the play of Bryce Young. The former first-overall pick is sitting in the lower-half of the league in adjusted yards per pass attempt (6.14) and, of the 21 QBs with at least 10 games played this season, Young sits 21st in total passing yards (1,962). That said, I think this will be a script where Young and Carolina are forced to play from behind and be aggressive through the air. Young has only eclipsed the 200-yard plateau twice in 2025, yet both performances have come on the two occasions that the Panthers have asked their quarterback to attempt over 35 passes. In a vacuum, Carolina wants to run the football. The team has thrown on just 54.4% of its offensive snaps through 11 weeks, with that ratio falling to 48.5% in home games — as the Panthers are 3-1 in Carolina. They won’t have that luxury on Monday night. Look for Young to flirt with 40 drop backs and for him to find a little success against a 49ers’ secondary that ranks 28th in the NFL in defensive EPA per opponent pass attempt (0.14).
Tetairoa McMillan Anytime Touchdown
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Tetairoa McMillan is the Panthers’ No. 1 weapon in the passing game. I mean, the rookie has more than twice as many receptions (54) and receiving yards (748) as any other player on Carolina’s roster coming into Week 12. McMillan also ranks 18th among qualified wide receivers in targets per route run, with the eighth-overall pick seeing a target on an impressive 22.9% of his routes this season. Unsurprisingly, this these trends have translated into high leverage situations, as McMillan leads the Panthers in red zone target share (24.6%). In fact, McMillan saw four targets inside the 20-yard line last week against the Falcons, and he turned those opportunities into a pair of touchdowns. If Carolina is going to be playing from behind and passing at a high frequency, it’s likely that McMillan is going to have a very busy evening. No team has given up more passing touchdowns than San Francisco across their past three games (8), so this is a decent matchup for McMillan, too.
