Carolina Panthers penalize themselves with an embarrassing loss to Saints
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Panthers committed 11 penalties for 103 yards in 20-17 loss to New Orleans.
- Critical loss drops Panthers into a tie with Tampa Bay atop NFC South at 7-7.
- Panthers and Bucs play each other twice in season’s final 3 weeks to decide division.
On a ladder the Carolina Panthers have been trying to climb for eight years, they made it nearly to the top Sunday.
Then came the grease — again.
By early in the third quarter against the New Orleans Saints, Carolina led 17-7. The Caesars Superdome, only 60% full to begin with, had gone mostly silent. Carolina only needed to hold its two-possession lead to take a one-game lead over Tampa Bay in the NFC South, meaning the Panthers could clinch the division the following week with a victory.
And then it all unraveled.
New Orleans came all the way back to edge the self-destructive Panthers, 20-17, on Sunday on a last-second field goal. That means Carolina and Tampa Bay are tied at 7-7 for the NFC South lead. Now, they play each other two times in the next three weeks, starting next Sunday in Charlotte, to figure out who’s finally going to win the darn thing.
But Tampa Bay has the inside edge now, and the Panthers may well need to beat the Bucs twice to win the division.
The scenario would have been reversed if the Panthers could have held on. But once again, as has been their pattern for much of the season, the Panthers followed a massive win with a nearly incomprehensible loss.
The Saints are only 4-10, but two of their wins are over Carolina. The Panthers turned a golden opportunity into a dark day as quickly as you could say “Flag on the play,” in large part by committing 11 penalties for 103 yards.
The most critical was a final hit on sliding Saints quarterback Tyler Shough by rookie Lathan Ransom, which made the potential game-winning field goal shrink from 62 to 47 yards. Then, for good measure, the Panthers jumped offside on the New Orleans game-winning field-goal try, too, meaning the Saints would have had a second chance had kicker Charlie Smyth missed it.
Smyth made it, though, and the Panthers were left with a flight back from New Orleans to lick their wounds.
“The penalties really killed us,” Carolina head coach Dave Canales said.
The Panthers also need to realize that because of Tampa Bay’s recent implosion, that the ladder is still there, awaiting them. Sweeping the Bucs, who have gone 2-6 over their past eight games, would still guarantee a postseason spot and a home playoff game.
“You gotta put this s--- behind us and get back to work,” said Panthers defensive tackle Derrick Brown, who also was called for an unnecessary roughness penalty on Shough. “Can’t sit here and sulk on this.”
But make no mistake, this was an embarrassing loss for the Panthers. How does a team beat Green Bay, Dallas and the L.A. Rams and yet lose to the Saints twice? It’s hard to fathom, but that’s what the Panthers have done. To get swept by the Saints is inexcusable, particularly when the game meant so much more to Carolina than it did to New Orleans.
The Panthers had so many chances to win Sunday, but frittered them all away. Leading 17-10, Canales skipped out on a potential 52-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter and instead called for Chuba Hubbard to run the ball up the middle. Carolina had converted on two previous fourth-down plays, but this one was blocked poorly and Hubbard had no chance.
“With inches to go, I felt confident in our guys,” Canales said. “I wanted to give Chuba the ball on that play, make that first down and continue that drive right there. So (I) made that decision. It didn’t work out for us.”
Still, Carolina would get the ball twice more in the last seven minutes — once leading 17-10 and once tied 17-17. In both cases, the offense went nowhere and had to punt — there was no magic from Bryce Young this time around.
“We’re a team that prides ourselves on finish,” said Young, who had a gorgeous 32-yard touchdown throw to Jalen Coker but led the offense to zero points in the game’s final 25 minutes. “Didn’t get that done today.”
Shough, meanwhile, ruled the fourth quarter. He took the Saints 78 yards for the tying touchdown — a 12-yard pass to Chris Olave, who beat Jaycee Horn on the touchdown — then 62 more yards for the winning field goal.
By the end, the Panthers locker room was a tomb. For two weeks, they had seen one good thing after another happen — the upset win over the Rams, followed by a bye and two straight Tampa Bay losses that pushed them to the front of the NFC South.
Said Panthers safety Nick Scott: “We’ve just got to be better…. Too many self-inflicted wounds. Too many penalties. Too many mistakes… Unfortunately, we looked like a team that came off a bye week, and that’s never a good thing.”
This story was originally published December 14, 2025 at 9:39 PM.
