When I watch the 2011 Carolina Panthers, I often am reminded of what this team was like nearly a decade ago. The pattern feels familiar.

Do you remember? In 2001, the Panthers lost 15 games in a row. They weren't awful on offense. But they couldn't stop anyone, they had the wrong quarterback (rookie Chris Weinke) and they couldn't finish games.

Still, there was some talent there. You saw more of it at the end of the 2002 season. The Panthers lost eight games in a row at one point during that year - coach John Fox's first - before rebounding to win four of their last five games.

That late-season momentum carried over into 2003, when Carolina sprinted all the way to its only Super Bowl appearance. Twenty players from the 1-15 team of 2001 remained on the Super Bowl roster - most in key roles.

That's what the Panthers are trying to do again. The 2010 season was close to a carbon copy of 2001, with the Panthers going 2-14 with the wrong quarterback (rookie Jimmy Clausen).

This year's squad - coach Ron Rivera's first - feels more like 2002. The games are getting closer and there have been some nice moments, but the Panthers (2-7) still lose far too often.

So what needs to happen for 2012 to be the year the Panthers take a big leap like they did in 2003?

"You can talk about all the players and all the plans for the future all you want," Panthers general manager Marty Hurney told me. "But the most important thing for us is we have to learn how to win. If you look in the past, the teams that are building and do well have often finished strongly the year before and carried that over. That's why these last seven games are very important to us."

Detroit, the Panthers' opponent today at 1 p.m., is a fine example of carryover. Unnoticed by most, the Lions won their final four games of 2010 and are now 6-3 and running in the playoff race this season. Like Carolina, the Lions rely on a young quarterback (Matthew Stafford) and have used the draft to build a foundation of talented young players.

"Every time you take the field you want to win," Hurney said. "But we had a plan coming into this year, with a new coaching staff and with a young team. I think we're all on the same page of what we want to be and how we want to build this team. We feel like we already have a large part of our nucleus in place. We have to continue to get better from within while still adding some pieces from the outside."

The Panthers locked many of their core players (defensive end Charles Johnson, linebacker Jon Beason, running back DeAngelo Williams and center Ryan Kalil among them) into long-term contracts. They aren't in danger of losing many key players in the 2012 offseason - linebacker Dan Connor and tight end Jeremy Shockey are the biggest names on their unrestricted free-agent list.

They will also add at least one high-profile rookie, likely a top-5 (or at worst, top-10) draft choice. It's quite likely that pick will fit in somewhere on the defense, perhaps at linebacker or in the secondary.

But much of what the Panthers will need to do is get better from within. San Francisco is another example of what Hurney and Rivera would like to see. The 49ers haven't changed their cast from 2010 to 2011 that much, but now they are 8-1 under first-year coach Jim Harbaugh.

Could the Panthers do something like that? Sure. They have the right quarterback now in Cam Newton, and that's a large part of the battle. Their offense can score. Their defense and special teams need work.

What the Panthers need most, though, is for players like Newton, defensive end Greg Hardy, wide receivers David Gettis and Brandon LaFell and defensive tackles Sione Fua and Terrell McClain to grow up together.

This is a team that could be on the cusp of something very good. Although the record doesn't show it and last week's 27-point loss to Tennessee was awful, the Panthers are not too far away from becoming a good football team.

The 2001-02-03 pattern is being stitched out again - but it won't ever be completed unless the Panthers can learn how to win games in the fourth quarter.

That process could start next season. Or - if the Panthers can ever get themselves going - it could start anytime.