CHARLOTTE — Saturday night was the biggest stage on which Jalen Coker has ever played.

"I've never, I don't think I've ever been in front of that many people in my career," said the Panthers receiver after the wild card game against the Rams, a bit of awe in his voice as he stared to think back over the night. "So it was, it was really cool. But, again, got to get the W, so that's what's most important."

The Panthers, as Coker said, weren't able to pull off the win against the Los Angeles Rams. Matthew Stafford and crew scored a late touchdown with just over 30 seconds remaining to retake the lead and a chance to play in next week's divisional round.

The Panthers saw their season come to an end, but not for a lack of effort on Coker's part.

The second-year receiver had a career night, finishing with nine receptions on 12 targets for 134 yards and a touchdown. Stats in postseason games are kept separately, but even when considering the past two regular seasons, Coker has never had a better performance.

"It's awesome to see, not surprised at all," said quarterback Bryce Young of his pass-catcher.

"Jalen's, he's a special, special player, special guy. The way that he works, he carries himself, the attention to detail he has throughout practice, not surprised at all. Big moment like this, him stepping up, him being himself, so, yeah, super, super happy for him."

Young's second completion of the night (he finished 21-of-40 for 264 yards, a touchdown, and an interception) was a 7-yarder, woven through traffic to Coker. It was an accumulation of all the work the two had done over the past two seasons and an indication of what was to come the rest of the night on offense.

The Panthers' first touchdown drive of the night got started when, on second-and-7, Young scrambled away from pressure and directed Coker near the sideline. Coker went vertical and pulled in the 15-yard gain that flipped field position. Chuba Hubbard finished the drive with a touchdown.

The second touchdown drive was pretty much all Coker. He drew a defensive pass interference flag that moved the offense near midfield, then the next play, Young hit him down the left sideline for a 37-yard gain to get into the red zone. Three plays later, Young juked a linebacker to score the 16-yard rushing touchdown.

"That's one thing you learn about the league is you feed whoever's hot," said receiver Tetairoa McMillan of Coker's night. "And you can't say nothing about it because he finished his drives. He's getting us down there, he's putting points on the board. So, if one person eats, we all eat."

Coker continued to eat, putting the Panthers in position to fight back, make it close, and try for an improbable win.

The last play of the third quarter, Young dropped back, received ample protection from his offensive line, and uncorked a long pass over the middle to a streaking Coker, who split the coverage and kept running for a gain of 52 yards, hitting a max speed 20.74 miles per hour.

The first play of the fourth quarter, he made another big play, just in a different way. After a three-yard catch, Coker was hit late by linebacker Nate Landman. It moved Carolina half the distance to the goal, but the receiver made sure it also still provided a spark, popping up quickly and screaming into the crowd in jubilation.

"It was a great hit, and I feel like a lot of times you give the defense a little bit of juice whenever you see, you get a big hit like that, so I made it my goal to pop up and just kind of show the crowd, the team that, it's going to be unwavering," promised Coker, "and we're just going to continue to fight."

Hubbard punched it in on the next play for his second touchdown of the night.

But Coker wasn't done.

After special teams blocked a punt to give the offense possession on the Rams' 30-yard line, Young and Coker connected again, this time for a fade in the back of the end zone that had, according to Next Gen Stats, a 19.7 percent chance of being a catch, the lowest probability of any catch on the night.

"I'm really excited about his chemistry with Bryce and where they've grown," said Canales. "When Jalen came back to us middle of the season (in Week 7), finding ways to get him on routes that he can execute and, he just finds a way to win.

"And generally, the ball goes his direction, you can count it as a catch, and he and Bryce have just worked tirelessly on a daily basis to get that chemistry to the point where this game was a huge one for him."

Coker passed on a lot of credit to his teammates, specifically noting that on the 52-yarder, it unfolded because McMillan executed a rub that opened up the field.

"Just playing physical, just trying to, a lot of guys helping me out," said Coker. "TMac kind of gives me a rub on that long throw, and Jimmy clears it out for me on the dig, so just a lot of great pieces working together."

And one could argue his impact helped open things up for McMillan as well, who finished with five receptions for 81 yards, just like McMillan's presence has opened things up for other receivers this year, as defenses tilted their coverage towards the favorite for offensive rookie of the year.

It makes one dream of what the future for this Panthers offense can be with two dynamic receivers on the field, both proven capable of being "the guy" on any given night.

"I definitely believe that the sky is the limit for the two of us," said McMillan of the receiver duo. "He definitely showed what he's capable of doing, and I have no doubt in my mind that he's going to be a really good player."

For now, though, Young, McMillan, Coker, and this entire crew will head home, a long offseason stretched before them, disappointment at Saturday night's result tinging their emotions at the outset. Still, excitement brewing from what they proved to the world, and to themselves.

"Just continued belief in all of us and just that chemistry growing, and it's going to be exciting things for the future," said Coker. "Just, I'm excited."