It’s a couple weeks late for Santa Claus, but late Sunday night, the Carolina Panthers’ locker room got a visit from someone bearing gifts.
“Yeah, they were sitting in our locker room,” said Panthers coach Dave Canales. “So, got in this morning, ready to watch film, and there it is. There’s a shirt and a hat.”
Not just any shirt and hat, mind you. This merch bore a message that you can’t just buy at the team store. It needs to be earned: “2025 NFC South Champions”.
“That’s what we play for,” Canales said. “That’s what we hope for is to win the division, win that first championship.”
After seven years of locker cleanout day coming on Black Monday for the Panthers, someone was instead stuffing the lockers with new gear as that fateful day dawned.
Normally, shirts and hats are passed out on the field after a team wraps up the title. Nothing, however, has been normal about the NFC South division race.
The Panthers controlled their destiny heading into the weekend. Win, and they were in, snapping a seven-year drought and wrapping up their first divisional title since 2015—the Super Bowl season.
Instead, Carolina fell behind the Tampa Bay Bucs, 10-0. Then, as they did so often this season, the Panthers battled back. Christian Rozeboom intercepted a pass from former Panther Baker Mayfield, setting up a Bryce Young touchdown pass. The Panthers blocked a field goal late and scored on another Young pass to cut the margin to two, but they dropped a 16-14 decision.
“They all add up. They all suck,” said defensive tackle Derrick Brown. “I [don’t ever] want to be a loser in my life. Losing today for damn sure hurts… The expectation from the time we started back in April, it was to go out here and be able to compete for the NFC South. It’s crazy to see how far we’ve come. But I mean, at the end of the day, if you still don’t get it done then you don’t get it done.”
Tampa tied the Panthers with an 8-9 record, and the Bucs held the tiebreaker. But there was one last loophole for Carolina. The Panthers held the three-team tiebreaker. So if the Atlanta Falcons beat New Orleans the following day, they would join the 8-9 party at the top of the division and hand Carolina the crown.
“I never thought I’d see a day where I’m rooting for the Saints,” Bucs linebacker Lavonte David said.
Canales, realizing his team missed an opportunity, was looking for bright sides after the loss while waiting for the Atlanta game.
“I think we’ll all be on the edge of our seats,” he said. “Hoping for the Falcons to come through, but at the same time, at least we have that hope to look at. We have to look at ourselves, and we have to make sure that in these championship moments that we play our best.”
“I love being a part of this team,” said Young. “The fight that we’ve shown all year, the fight that we always have. The resolve. Again, not feeling what we want to right now, but I wouldn’t want to be in this position, in this year, this season with any other group. So, we’ll sit by the TV tomorrow.”
Given a chance to reflect on his initial answer, Young issued a retraction.
“It’ll be a tough one. Might not even watch, to be honest with you,” he said. “Might just see how it ends up. So, uh, yeah. It’s on us for that being our reality. We had an opportunity to take it and now we have to leave it in someone else’s hands so we take ownership in that.”
Brown also wasn’t looking forward to watching and rooting in order to win the division and extend the season. “I live my life where I don’t need anybody doing anything for me,” he said. “So, it’s tough to have to sit around and wait to see the result tomorrow.”
The Atlanta game was far from a football showcase. The teams exchanged turnovers on their opening drives, and Atlanta took an early lead when a blocked punt set up a touchdown.
Clinging to a six-point fourth-quarter lead, Atlanta intercepted the Saints in the red zone. After a field goal, New Orleans scored to cut the lead to two with 1:11 left. The Falcons recovered an onside kick to end the game and send the Panthers to the postseason. Despite tying for first, they then fired their coach and general manager later in the day.
Still, it was enough to earn the Panthers their shirts and hats, even if it took a special delivery, a day after the final game, to get them there.
“Guys are wearing it around the office,” Canales said.
