The Carolina Panthers began a crucial last month of the 2023 season with a last-second win over the visiting Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
Unfortunately for fans of North Carolina’s only NFL team, the games are critical for Carolina’s opponents, not the Panthers themselves. The Carolina Panthers’ season faded from relevance in late autumn, as the team stumbled to a 1-12 start to the season. The Panthers were the first team in the NFL to be eliminated from the playoffs this season, back in Week 13.
However, the Panthers will find themselves in the spotlight through the holiday season since their opponents are all firmly on the NFL playoff bubble.
The Panthers haven’t made the playoffs since the end of the 2017 season, the fourth-longest postseason drought in the NFL. Plus, two of the three teams ahead of them — the Lions and Broncos — are still in the mix to end their longer waits next month. Carolina hasn’t even entered the final week of the season with a mathematical chance of making it in the half-dozen years since their last postseason trip. They were eliminated the week before the final game (Week 17) last year, Week 16 in 2021, 15 in 2020 and 14 in 2019. In 2018, the team broke the pattern, going out again in Week 16.
When Eddy Piniero’s field goal split the uprights on Sunday, giving the Panthers a wet, ugly 9-7 win over the visiting Falcons, Carolina began its late-season relevance with a bang. The loss put a serious dent in Atlanta’s playoff chances. Entering play, the Falcons were tied for the final spot at 6-7 but on the outside due to tiebreakers. The upset loss in Charlotte essentially cut their playoff odds in half, from 37%, according to NFL.com, to 18%.
Next up on the Panthers’ slate of playoff hopefuls are the Green Bay Packers, who will visit Bank of America Stadium for a Christmas Eve matchup. The Packers will be even more desperate than the Falcons were this past weekend. Green Bay entered Week 15 in possession of the final playoff spot in the NFC, but a loss to Tampa Bay dropped them four spots. The loss halved their odds as well, dropping them from 47% to 23%. At 6-8, Green Bay basically needs to win out to have a chance. A loss to Carolina will be a kill shot.
The Panthers then hit the road for New Year’s Eve and hop over to the other conference’s playoff scenarios. Carolina plays the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 17. Trevor Lawrence and Co. entered Sunday night’s game at 8-6 and in fourth place in the AFC playoff standings, if the season ended at the moment. However, Jacksonville is clinging to the divisional lead over the Colts, who beat Pittsburgh on Saturday to move to within a half-game of the Jags. Losing the division lead would put Jacksonville on the wild card bubble — the Colts currently hold the final seventh seed in the AFC. Obviously, next week’s games — the Colts play the Falcons and the Jags the Bucs, both on the road — could shuffle things, but Jacksonville will certainly enter the game with the Panthers urgently needing a win to improve its playoff position.
Then the Panthers close the regular season at home with a game against Tampa Bay in the regular season finale. The Bucs are currently tied for the division lead in the woeful NFC South at 7-7. Tampa will likely be fighting for the divisional title as the season comes to an end. The division lead is the difference between the fourth seed, which the Bucs currently hold, and a seventh seed, which the Saints occupy.
Panthers interim coach Chris Tabor has said repeatedly that he will continue to play rookie quarterback Bryce Young despite concerns by some that the number of hits the top draft pick has taken could pose a threat to his development. Young’s last-minute game-winning drive this week seemed to lend credence to Tabor’s approach. While it’s not a true playoff chase, the last three games will give the top draft pick a taste of the urgency of a team fighting for its postseason life, which should help with Young’s maturity as the leader of an NFL offense.
And who knows, a couple more upset wins could give Young and the Panthers something to build on heading into the offseason.
