Mile High Report
The NFC South will be decided today with the winner from the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers game. These teams had completely opposite starts and finishes to the season with the Bucs starting out hot with Baker Mayfield in early MVP talks and the Panthers starting out being called the worst team in the NFL. The script has flipped with the Panthers having the better record and one final game to determine who gets into the playoffs.
Kickoff is set for Saturday, January 3, 2026 at 2:30 p.m. Mile High time at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida and will air on ABC.
According to FanDuel, the Bucs are 3-point favorites at home against the Panthers. Frankly, I don’t trust the Bucs at all and I will be picking Carolina here. The Panthers defense has shown they can alter the course of games and their us against the world mentality should have them fired up to play in this one. What a story it would be to have Carolina go from being assumed as the worst team in the league to division champions all in the same season.
Prediction: Panthers 20, Buccaneers 16.
