Panthers put all hope in Falcons following season-finale loss to Buccaneers
The Carolina Panthers (8-9) will be cheering on the Atlanta Falcons (7-9) on Sunday.
Following Saturday’s 16-14 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-9), the Panthers will need to put faith in their division rivals to sneak into the playoffs.
If the Falcons defeat the New Orleans Saints (6-10) on Sunday in Atlanta, the Panthers will win the division title, as they would hold the best head-to-head record against the other 8-9 teams (3-1), Atlanta and Tampa Bay.
If the Falcons lose to the Saints, the Bucs would win their fifth consecutive NFC South title, as they would hold the better common opponent record against the other 8-9 team, Carolina.
Either way, it’d be an anti-climatic way to end an otherwise whirlwind division race.
Still, an Atlanta win would lead to the Panthers’ first playoff berth since 2017 and first division title to 2015.
Here are four takeaways from the season finale:
Takeaways from Panthers-Bucs
1. Soggy conditions didn’t help the Panthers early on. Yes, both teams played in rainy weather on Saturday. But Carolina had a tougher time with the soggy field.
Both squads traded slippery setbacks, but the Panthers just seemed out of sync for most of the first half. On both sides of the ball, Carolina slipped and slid into miscues.
The defense allowed 87 rushing yards in the first half. And while the Bucs averaged just 3.6 yards per carry, that number was greatly hurt by a pair of botched handoffs behind the line of scrimmage, including one that involved quarterback Baker Mayfield shoulder checking running back Sean Tucker during an exchange.
On offense, quarterback Bryce Young had a tough time connecting with his receivers, regardless of his accuracy. The Panthers were able to take advantage of a Christian Rozeboom interception in the second quarter with a touchdown pass from Young to tight end Tommy Tremble. But Young had a couple of passes dropped in the first half, and he also threw an interception on a lofted pass to the sideline in the second quarter.
The run game couldn’t get going early either. The running backs, Rico Dowdle and Chuba Hubbard, had just five rushing yards on six carries. The Panthers were 0-of-3 on third down in the first two quarters.
Carolina (80 yards) was significantly out-gained by the Tampa Bay (216 yards) in the first half. And yet, the Buccaneers led by just six points at halftime.
The soggy field also hurt the Panthers on two major plays in the second half.
Poor footing led to a shanked 54-yard field goal attempt by rookie Ryan Fitzgerald in the third quarter. Then, in the fourth quarter, Dowdle slipped on a flea flicker exchange in the red zone, which led to a fumble recovery by Tampa Bay.
Both decisions were regrettable (more on that later), especially in hindsight, but there’s no doubt the field factored into the failures of both.
The defense was also up and down on Saturday. Tampa Bay scored just 16 points, but only three came in the second half. Mayfield and company only had one touchdown scored in the matchup. But Tampa Bay produced 338 total yards of offense on the day.
2. The Panthers can’t win without a strong run game and Saturday’s no-show hurt. To say the Panthers’ ground attack struggled against the Buccaneers would be an understatement. Hubbard and Dowdle had fewer rushing yards than carries in the first half.
Those struggles put the onus on the passing game in a slippery setting. That’s not a recipe for success for any team, but especially not the Panthers.
Young completed 7 of 11 passes for 75 yards, a touchdown and an interception in the first half. While those numbers are fine(ish), the Panthers had limited success overall in the first two quarters, because Carolina was commonly in unfavorable third-down sequences. They struck on all their first four third-down opportunities.
The lack of balance put the Panthers in a bind on early downs, as Young had to carry the offense instead of guiding it in the rain.
Young predictably struggled as the offense had to be all about him and his arm. While he wasn’t a disaster, the offense became one dimensional and unsustainable. Every time Young would have a positive play or two, a drive would be stunted by a penalty or an execution setback.
The Buccaneers, to their credit, also caved in the pocket and covered Carolina relatively well.
Young completed 24 of 35 passes for 264 yards, two touchdowns and an interception overall. He led just two scoring drives.
The run game produced 19 total yards on 14 carries (1.4 YPC).
3. Ryan Fitzgerald’s 54-yard miss in the third quarter was a momentum killer. It’s hard to blame the rookie kicker here. Attempting that deep of a kick with a soggy field seemed like a dubious decision to begin with.
Predictably, Fitzgerald badly shanked the attempt wide left after the Panthers’ offense somehow managed to the ball into his regular range.
The Buccaneers weren’t able to take advantage of favorable field position, but it felt like the Panthers curbed their positive flow to begin the second half.
Carolina didn’t end up cutting the lead in the third quarter after the missed kick.
The Panthers would also cough away the ball on a failed flea flicker in the red zone during the fourth quarter, which probably the worst call of the entire game. It cost the Panthers at least three points in a two-point loss.
4. The referees were terrible. In the third quarter alone, the officials blew the whistle on a clear backward pass that could have been returned for yardage and then missed one of the more egregious illegal use of hands to the face penalties you’ll ever see.
Tremble literally had his helmet ripped off by the facemask.
And while ESPN’s rule analyst seemed to be in favor of an offensive pass interference penalty on a 31-yard catch by Tetaiora McMillan, the contact occurred on press coverage roughly two yards down the field. Analyst Dan Orlovsky fought back against the penalty on the telecast.
On the very next drive, safety Nick Scott and tight end Cade Otton got inadvertently tangled down the field. It was a throw off a scramble by Mayfield, and the penalty felt a tad overblown without intentional contact.
The referees weren’t the reason the Panthers lost, but they certainly didn’t help matters. It felt like an inconsistent performance from the zebras, especially on some huge calls.
This story was originally published January 3, 2026 at 7:41 PM.
