Are the Panthers, at long last, playoff-bound? + Who are our regular-season MVPs?
By Alex Zietlow ,
Scott Fowler and
Mike Kaye
The Carolina Panthers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are set to face off on Saturday in Florida — and there are a few questions worth deliberating.
But only one matters, really:
Will the Panthers, at long last, make the playoffs?
That’s central theme of discussion between The Charlotte Observer’s Scott Fowler,Mike Kaye and Alex Zietlow on the latest podcast episode of Processing Blue.
Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young scores a touchdown during a Dec. 28, 2025 game against the Seattle Seahawks at Bank of America Stadium. TRACY KIMBALL tkimball@charlotteobserver.com
The three discuss a variety of topics to get at the Panthers’ playoff fate. They spend time dissecting Carolina’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, when the Panthers’ defense looked great but the offense looked lifeless. They also talked about Carolina’s narrow win over the Bucs in Week 16 and what to expect in Week 18.
Kaye also spends time discussing how the Panthers’ locker room voted for their three “MVPs” of the regular season — offensive MVP, defensive MVP and special teams MVP.
Listen to the latest podcast episode at the embed in this story, or download it on Spotify, Apple Music or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also check out the show on YouTube.
Columnist Scott Fowler has written for The Charlotte Observer since 1994 and has earned 26 APSE awards for his sportswriting. He hosted The Observer’s podcast “Carruth,” which Sports Illustrated once named “Podcast of the Year.” Fowler also conceived and hosted the online series and podcast “Sports Legends of the Carolinas,” which featured 1-on-1 interviews with NC and SC sports icons and was turned into a book. He occasionally writes about non-sports subjects, such as the 5-part series “9/11/74,” which chronicled the forgotten plane crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 in Charlotte on Sept. 11, 1974.Support my work with a digital subscription
Alex Zietlow writes about the Carolina Panthers and the ways in which sports intersect with life for The Charlotte Observer, where he has been a reporter since August 2022. Zietlow’s work has been honored by the Pro Football Writers Association, the N.C. and S.C. Press Associations, as well as the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) group. He’s earned six APSE Top 10 distinctions for his coverage on a variety of topics, from billion-dollar stadium renovations to the small moments of triumph that helped a Panthers kicker defy the steepest odds in sports. Zietlow previously wrote for The Herald in Rock Hill (S.C.) from 2019-22.Support my work with a digital subscription
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