CHARLOTTE — Bryce Young wasn't smiling when he came in for his post-game press conference, even though he had every right to.

That's because moments earlier, he was delivering a solemn message to his team in the locker room, a serious message, a message that they shouldn't leave Bank of America Stadium Sunday any way other than frustrated at what got away from them.

"Bryce said it after the game. This is not a fluke where we just played toe-to-toe on the best team in the league," cornerback Jaycee Horn said. "We really believe that's who our team is."

Because he's so calm in public, because he's mastered even keel when he's obliged to talk in front of cameras, it's easy to think he's the same way when they're not around, when it's just him and his teammates. But in that room, they know a different Bryce Young, one which doesn't always square with the mild-mannered public perception.

"I knew that was in him, you know, he's a dog," Horn said. "Don't let the quiet talk fool y'all. Bryce is a real dog. And he came out after the game when he talked to the team, and that's what we need."

The difference isn't on camera, but it does feel tangible.

Young turned in his best game of the season, and perhaps of his career, matching two-time MVP and three-time champion Patrick Mahomes on Sunday. Young threw for 263 yards and a touchdown (Mahomes had 269 and three), didn't turn the ball over and led a game-tying touchdown drive inside the final two minutes. He made Mahomes beat him, and Mahomes did, 30-27, with a last-second field goal to escape. But that didn't change the fact it was a different kind of performance for Young.

Different, and yet familiar.

"When I see Bryce, I'm like, oh that's the Alabama Bryce," linebacker Trevin Wallace said. "Like that's cold. And I love seeing him go making plays because a lot of people doubt him a little bit, and now you showing the doubt is wrong, like, hey, I'm still that guy.

"And I love that about Bryce. He's got that confidence now, and I love it."

That kind of acclaim was universal because it stands in such stark contrast to what we saw earlier in the year.

He threw for a combined 245 yards and three interceptions in the first two games, after which he was benched for Andy Dalton. And he might not have gotten back on the field at all if not for Dalton getting in a car accident the Tuesday before the trip to Denver. Since then, the progress has been steady, but coming in very small increments. He threw for 224 yards, with two touchdowns and two picks at Denver in a loss in his surprise start. Then he came home with a little more notice and beat the Saints, throwing for 171 yards. He managed just 126 yards in the air in Germany, but leading them to an overtime win and a streak made it matter.

And then Sunday, when you didn't have to put out low bars for him to clear — he actually played well — the difference was obvious.

Whether it was the plays he made on the field or that address to the team, his teammates saw it.

"I mean, maybe not," veteran wideout Adam Thielen admitted when asked if Young would have talked to them in that way earlier this year. "I think he's just earned his respect when you play on the field and prepare the right way. You start to earn respect for your teammates, and you feel like you can have those conversations."

Running back Chuba Hubbard wasn't getting into the content of the conversation, but to him, the theme of the day was clear.

"I mean, I don't really count the times that he's talked, but I'm sure he's talked plenty of times," Hubbard said. "Like I said, he's a great leader. I'm going to keep what was said in-house, but he definitely said the right things heading into that last game-tying drive."

And they did tie the game. And they did make Mahomes beat them. And because of that, it was short of a celebration Sunday night. But they knew something had changed.

That's perhaps why head coach Dave Canales was willing to come off his previous stance of waiting to decide who would start each game until he processed the game tape, looked at the nuances, and studied the kinds of things you can't see in real-time. After Sunday's game, he was willing to say Young would "absolutely" start next week against the Buccaneers.

"Yeah, I mean, I don't have to make any statements; he's making it for himself," Canales said. "He's continued to show us the progress we're looking for."

Canales hesitates to make sweeping declarations or go into the finer points of what Young has been doing better lately. That's because he doesn't have to know the future when it's being written in front of us on a daily basis.

"It's just all of it," Canales said. "It's just all the things that he continues to grow, take advantage of opportunities, and lead. Another great week of practice in terms of just pushing the guys and really being the voice out there, all the things.

"So all those things are stuff that I'm proud about, just the way that he's continuing to grow."

Those are things it's easier for teammates to see than for people to hear.

Thielen said he was impressed by Young's "command of the huddle" while going up against a top-five Chiefs defense, showing his ability to stand in pockets, deliver passes against a blitz, and improvise when need be. However, the things that are different might be the soft skills beyond football preparation (though none of it matters if that's not right).

"His demeanor on the sideline," Thielen said. "His attitude has been really good and guys can feel that. I think that's why guys have been rallying around him just because of his progression he's made, and the leader he's been."

Young himself offered much less in the way of introspection. He had said what he had to say in the locker room to the people who know him best.

In a press conference, where the words are more measured and far less emotional, the things he said didn't carry the same weight.

But you could still tell the difference. He walked into the season with a team built around him, and he faltered. Now, all those same pieces aren't there, and he delivered his best game. That's telling.

"I'm leaning on my teammates," Young said. "I think it's not just me at all. I think we've all kind of come into our own within the system, all obviously having more time and just forming our identity. . . .

"I just have to control what I can control as far as embracing the system. Obviously, the calls week to week are going to be the same once they're installed. And when there's minor tweaks, making sure that I own those as well, communicating, talking to the guys getting reps. I'm grateful to have teammates around me with all this movement who care; it's not a nuisance for them to go over stuff on the side to do extras to talk. You know, they always want to be on the same page with me."

Sunday, they were, perhaps in a way that will lead to different results — but ones that are built on what was established against the Chiefs.