CHARLOTTE — There are times when Bryce Young gets that look in his eye, when you can just tell he feels comfortable, when you can see that he's in control, and having fun.

Bryce Young sees it too, because he's constantly "checking in" with himself to determine what he needs in that particular moment.

Sunday was one of those days for Young, as he came through for his ninth career game-winning drive to beat the Packers in Lambeau Field. And during and after, he had a version of that same sly smile, the one that suggests he knows this is working in this moment.

But when asked about it on Wednesday, Young described a much more studied approach to his emotions than what sometimes appears spontaneous.

"I think that depends on who you ask; everyone's different in that process," Young replied Wednesday, when asked if it was important to have those moments of fun in the midst of a very serious enterprise. "For me, I'm always trying to balance from the mental side. I'm always trying to balance what's the right mindset I need to be in. And one of the things that I don't know if people would assume from the outside looking in, it's not always the same from a day-to-day basis.

"I try to check in in warmups and then really try to check in right before a game starts up, where am I at mentally, where do I feel mentally, physically? Sometimes it's, 'OK I feel a little tense. I need to put more emphasis on having fun, on being relaxed.' Sometimes it's like, 'OK, I can tell that I'm relaxed, I can tell that, let me make sure I'm focused.' So for me, it's not always every game I'm in the exact same place, have the exact same approach to it. It's trying to find that kind of flow state, find the right mindset and supplement it from where I'm at on a play-to-play basis."

That's not the way football guys have talked forever. But Young has always been in tune with his own game and has always emphasized the mental aspect. And if that sounds a little woo-woo, understand this part — it's working for him at the moment.

Young has won nine times when he needed to drive his team in the fourth quarter from behind of tied during his career. That number puts him tied with Super Bowl champions Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes, and veteran Geno Smith since the start of the 2023 season. (And one ahead of Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield, Jared Goff, and Matthew Stafford in that span.)

During those nine drives (four of which were 10 plays or longer), he completed 75.9 percent of his passes and had a passer rating of 115.6.

Panthers head coach Dave Canales said preemptively that Young would tell you he's only worried about winning (nailed it), and that his quarterback has done a good job of facilitating the kind of whole-team football that's working for the Panthers at the moment.

"Honestly, it starts with Bryce, and Bryce is the one that leads the charge," Canales said. "He's the one that pushes the urgency in practice, talking to the guys, to be engaged all throughout each day. And it's that type of leadership that he continues to bring to the team. And if you ask him, he'll tell you that I just want to win, however or whatever it takes to win; that's what he would like to do. And he wants to win with his teammates, and I know the guys feel that, and there's a sense of confidence when he's out there."

That was evident on Sunday, when the stats and his vibe told two very different stories.

Sunday against the Packers, he might have thrown for only 102 yards, but those kinds of numbers carry little weight for him when it led to celebrating their way out of Lambeau Field.

"All I care about is the team winning," he said with a shrug. "Again, there's been wins, there's been losses. As a team that's all I'm concerned about, and again, that's in the past right now, concerned about going 1-0 again this week."

That's the Bryce Young that isn't analytical. He laughed on Wednesday and admitted he's "not a big 30,000-foot view type of person."

He's taking a far more microscopic look at himself and admitted that there are times when he can sense he's entering the "flow state" he talks about sometimes. That came out when the Panthers took the ball with 2:32 left on the clock at their own 29, with the score tied, but (importantly) the wind at their backs.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he replied when asked if there are times he can sense he's entering that place. "That's something I've been working on for a really long time, of just being in tune with myself. So, whether it's dial it back, bring it up more, I can kind of tell where I'm at, and that's one of the game-within-the-game things for me personally. It's just, individually from a mental standpoint, where am I at and how can I make sure I'm in the right place?"

After Sunday's win, he talked about being a kid and dreaming of situations like that. But he clearly has taken a studious approach to being in them now, based on his description of his internal monologue.

For Young, this is all very regulated and an extension of his daily habits, and the "doing right longer" that Canales has turned into a mantra around here.

"Just consistency," Young said. "Coach talks about it all the time, it's about doing right longer, making sure that we're those same people. You don't rise to the level of the occasion; you fall back to the level of your training. And in those times, we have trust in each other. I have confidence and faith in everyone. We all have confidence in each other, so we know that we're comfortable in situations.

"So, it's not about going and doing something super, doing something we never practiced. It's just who can execute for longer, who can stick to the plan, who can do right, like we practice."

And for Young, that doesn't just mean being on top of his assignments, and the playbook, and what he needs to look for on each particular play.

It's about looking within himself and realizing what he needs in that moment, too. Sometimes that's locking in. And sometimes that's his super-loose pregame ritual with Tetairoa McMillan.

"Throughout the course of sports, for whatever sport it may be, it's what you dream of, it's the fun part," he said of those late-game situations he's excelling in. "I think that's a big part of our position too, we get to touch the ball every play. You know, we all like control. We all like being able to control the outcome.

"The thing about the sport is sometimes the defense is out there, sometimes you learn a lot of humility, and you learn that sometimes, you've just got to trust other people. But of course, you know, deep down, it's always nice when you get to have that control, you get to have that say.

"It doesn't always work out that way, but it's always nice when it does."