The Carolina Panthers came within seventeen points of clinching the NFC South today—in a closer-than-it-looked loss to the Seattle Seahawks—after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fell 20-10 to the Miami Dolphins. Now they turn to rooting for the Atlanta Falcons tomorrow night against the Los Angeles Rams while trying to focus on beating the Bucs in the regular season finale next Sunday.

Here are the remaining scenarios that see the Panthers into the playoffs as the NFC South champions.

Panthers finish 10-7

• They’re in.

Panthers finish 9-8

• If they sweep the Bucs then they’re in.
• If...

The Panthers unfortunately just could not get anything going on offense, despite a strong effort from Mike Jackson and the defense. The offense spent most of the day with its longest play going only 8 yards. Mistakes were the theme of the day, but unfortunately the Seahawks made less of them than the Panthers on this particular Sunday.

First Quarter

The game started off with the Seahawks winning the coin toss (very important), deferring and Carolina receiving the kickoff. They answered with a nice run by Rico Dowdle, but stalled immediately after for a punt. Seattle got the ball,...

The penultimate game of the Carolina Panthers’ 2025 season is here with storylines to spare. Whether you want a Sam Darnold Revenge Game, a Dave Canales homecoming, the chance for the Panthers to go three for three over projected number one seeds in the NFC, or just the casual pleasure of watching the Panthers compete for their part in clinching their first playoff berth since 2017.

A win over the Seahawks and a Tampa Bay Buccaneers loss to the Miami Dolphins clinches the Panthers playoff entrance and seed with a week to spare this season. That’s huge, but perhaps not...

The Carolina Panthers front office is busy throughout the season with transactions, roster moves, and injury updates. Here’s what’s happening at Mint Street this week.

Injuries

The 8-7 Panthers are potentially playing for their postseason lives this week against the 12-3 Seattle Seahawks. Former Carolina quarterback Sam Darnold returns to Charlotte for a potential revenge game as the Panthers look for a massive upset win.

Injuries could play a big part on the defensive side of the ball in this one with linebacker Trevin Wallace and defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton both ruled out for Sunday. In a major blow...

Hello CSR! I apologize for the delay, but happy holidays to you all! On Sunday, the Panthers face off against an NFC playoff contenders in the Seattle Seahawks, and former Panthers QB Sam Darnold who has since been on a redemption tour after they let him walk. The Panthers defense has been very good at times this year, but they’ve been punched in the mouth a few times as well. The NFC South crown could be on the line with a Panthers win and a Dolphins win over the Buccaneers, while the Seahawks are fighting to maintain the number one...

Holiday football is here again. The Panthers have given us the best gifts of all this season by both being in first place in the NFC South and not playing today.

There are, however, a handful of other games to watch today.

The Dallas Cowboys are visiting the Washington Commanders at 1 PM ET and the Detroit Lions are visiting the Minnesota Vikings at 4:30 PM ET, all on Netflix, of all places. That will be followed by the Denver Broncos taking on the Kansas City Chiefs at 8:15 PM ET on Prime.

This is your open thread to follow...

This game probably doesn’t even matter. The Carolina Panthers could technically clinch the NFC South with a win and a Buccaneers loss to Quin Ewers and the Dolphins. The likelihood of both those things happening seems minuscule, but the Bucs are losing to everybody and the Panthers beat the Rams that one time, so you never know. If the Panthers do lose, next Sunday will be for the division title.

The Seahawks possess arguably the best defense in the league. They are first in defensive DVOA, fourth in EPA per play, fourth in success rate, and [second in opponent yards...

Hello CSR! Welcome to Ask Brian, your weekly Panthers fan mail bag for everyone! We are into the final stretch of the season and holy crap. The Panthers could actually make the playoffs. What a wild time to be in. Technically the Panthers could make the playoffs this week with a win over Seattle and the Buccaneers lost to the Dolphins. Of course, based on the theme of this season, I don’t expect that to happen and everything should likely come down to the final game against the Bucs.

That means there’s plenty to talk about ahead of the last...

Even though the 2025 NFL season just started, it’s never too early to look ahead toward the 2026 NFL Draft. This weekly series will take a closer look at some of the prospects the Carolina Panthers could select in the 2026 iteration of the Draft. In this series, we’ll only be looking at prospects the Panthers could seriously consider. This week our profile will focus on Oregon Ducks edge defender Matayo Uiagalelei.

Bio

Uiagalelei, younger brother of former Clemson quarterback DJ, was a five star prospect coming out of a highly touted California high school. Matayo was a two...

The NFL released the Pro Bowl rosters for the 2025 season, and the Carolina Panthers have a single representative. That representative: Jaycee Horn.

Horn has a career high five interceptions this season, tied for second in the NFL and one off the league lead of six, currently held by the Bears’ Kevin Byard. Opposing quarterbacks are only completing 46.6% of their passes against him and have a 70.9 passer rating on balls thrown his way. He’s had a few up and down moments, but he’s still one of the better corners in the NFL, and he made a strong case...

The Carolina Panthers have spent the month of December playing with all of our feelings. Losing to the New Orleans Saints then beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has left them knocking on the door of the playoffs without giving us a whole lot of reason to believe that they would do anything if they were let in.

Still, as we discussed yesterday, just being this close is kind of the point this season. The team looks both deeply flawed and ahead of schedule. They’re night and day different from last season without having actually answered any of their big questions...

If it was not already made clear, the only thing to understand about the Carolina Panthers is that actually “understanding” them is futile. They are an enigma. The only games they win are the ones they are projected to lose, and can’t sniff a win when they are favored.

It’s not rocket science, though. The Panthers found consistent execution and because of that they won the football game. While that may be obvious, what gets lost in the conversation is what they were executing. By that I mean, what game plan they were trying to execute.

For as much success...