CHARLOTTE — A year and two days ago, give or take a few hours, Dave Canales looked over the schedule for his first season as NFL head coach—heading a club coming off a 2-15 season—and made sense of a point that was plaguing others.

"You got to earn prime-time games," he sagely offered at the time as to why the Panthers had none in 2024 (other than the Germany game, which technically aired in the morning on the East Coast). "Those things don't just come along…you don't start out that way, and they don't just throw you on prime time games for no reason.

"We have to build something, a version of football that we're proud of, and be able to accentuate the strengths and talents of our guys that we have. And then I think that the world will want to see that at some point, but we got a long way to go, and we got to earn those."

And so the Panthers went about doing just that.

There is still work to do; that's no secret. The record improved from two wins to 5-12, a win total that won't get you into the playoffs but does speak to an upward trajectory. The club went 4-5 over the back half of the season, including three losses that were decided by six points or less.

Quarterback Bryce Young led that ascension wave. In his most recent 10 games, Young completed 61.8 percent of his passes, 6.6 yards per attempt, with 15 touchdowns and six interceptions, for a passer rating of 101.9. According to Pro Football Focus, Young had 22 big-time throws in the second half of the season, the second-most in the NFL, and he finished with the seventh-most in 2024 (27).

The result was a prime-time game back on the schedule this season. The Panthers will head West to face the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football, a national spotlight in Week 12.

"I just love the opportunities to be able to play those types of games," Canales said Thursday after the schedule was revealed. "There's a couple of extra cameras, and you get to play under the lights, playing against a great opponent, and those are the types of games that we need to become who we are."

The 49ers are a team two years removed from back-to-back division titles but went 6-11 last season. The matchup will also pit running back Christian McCaffrey against his former team. For now, though, the focus is on preparing accordingly to cross the country for a Monday night game and return on a short week.

"The challenge is to go on the road, go across the country, and you know, really feel the high stakes games as we build this and we compete to win the division," Canales said.

Since the game is in Week 12, it is technically eligible to be flexed out of Monday night. But while the goal last season was to earn prime-time games, the goal this year for the Panthers is to prove they are worthy.

"The hope is that we are working ourselves into that, the mentality of, like, this is another game," explained Canales. "We go about our preparation and our work the same way so that we can go out there and just play our best."

After the prime-time game against the 49ers, the Panthers will return home to take on the Los Angeles Rams before a late Week 14 bye. Check out the full schedule here.