Carolina Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Bucs: Our predictions, TV channel, betting info
Will the Carolina Panthers win their most important game of the year?
Actually, let’s amend that:
Will they win their most important game ... of the past eight years?
Carolina (8-8) heads to Tampa Bay (7-9) for a regular-season finale that could decide the NFC South and thus determine who gets to host a game in the forthcoming NFL playoffs. The Panthers, who are in search of their first NFL postseason appearance since 2017, play the Bucs on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET. Fans can catch the game on ABC or ESPN.
Ask any of the Panthers, and they’ll say their sole focus is a victory Saturday. A win guarantees a playoff appearance. But the Panthers can also claim the division title with an Atlanta Falcons triumph over the New Orleans Saints; the Falcons-Saints game will take place Sunday at 1 p.m. on FOX.
The last 10 games of the season for the Panthers have resembled a metronome: W-L-W-L-W-L-W-L-W-L. Some call it resilient. Some call it inconsistent. But several characters have sustained pretty impressive performances nonetheless.
Bryce Young is one of them. The third-year quarterback has stepped up of late, with the exception of the Seattle game Week 17. In fact, he’s statistically been great, really, since his benching Week 2 of 2024: In that span, he’s scored 43 total touchdowns (36 pass, seven run), thrown 15 interceptions, led 10 game-winning drives (six this season) and set the Panthers’ single-game passing mark (448 yards).
The defense has stepped up this year, too. Cornerback Mike Jackson has had a career year: a league-leading 19 pass breakups and four interceptions. His partner on the outside, Jaycee Horn, was selected to his second consecutive Pro Bowl. And the team is seeing the emergence of rookie OLB Nic Scourton to go along with the resurgence of DE Derrick Brown.
While the Panthers have been up and down, the Bucs have been in a spiral. They’ve lost seven of their past eight, including their past four. It’s true that those four have been by one-score margins — four points, one point, three points and three points. But for a team that was rolling early, with a future Hall of Fame receiver at the peak of his game in Mike Evans (before an early-season injury) and with a quarterback getting some early MVP attention in Baker Mayfield, such a turn hasn’t been ideal. (Mayfield, for what it’s worth, showed up on the injury report with right shoulder and knee injuries this week, but will play.)
Read below for everything you need to know ahead of Saturday’s contest, including broadcast information and our staff’s game predictions.
Inactives ahead of Panthers-Bucs
Defensive lineman Turk Wharton (hamstring) is out for Saturday’s game. The rest of the team’s inactives: WR Hunter Renfrow, CB Robert Rochell, S D’Anthony Bell, S Demani Richardson, LB Claudin Cherelus, dT Jared Harrison-Hunte.
Bucs inactives: CB Jamel Dean, OLB Anthony Nelson, WR Sterling Shepard, G Elijah Klein, DL Elijah Simmons.
Panthers-Bucs: How to watch, listen on radio
The game will be broadcast on ESPN. It’ll also be broadcast locally on Charlotte’s ABC affiliate, WSOC-TV (Channel 9). The ESPN broadcast will have Chris Fowler on play-by-play, Dan Orlovsky and Louis Riddick as analysts and Katie George and Peter Schrager as sideline reporters.
Fans can also catch the game on the radio one of three ways:
- WRFX The Fox (99.7 FM in Charlotte): Anish Shroff, Luke Kuechly, Jim Szoke and Sharon Thorsland will be on the call. Check out the Carolina Panthers Radio Network for local listings.
- National Radio (Westwood One Sports): JP Shadrick (play-by-play) and Mike Mayock (analyst).
- Spanish Radio WXNC (97.3 FM / 1060 AM): Jaime Moreno (play-by-play) and Antonio Ramos (analyst).
Betting lines ahead of Tampa Bay-Carolina
The Panthers are 3-point underdogs in Tampa Bay, according to FanDuel Sportsbook as of Saturday morning. Taking Carolina moneyline would yield a payout of +130; Bucs moneyline is set at -154. The game’s total points over/under is 43.5.
The Panthers are 9-7 against the spread this season, while the Bucs are 5-11, according to Stat Muse.
Some other bets you might find intriguing:
- Baker Mayfield — Alternative Passing Yards: The sportsbooks expect Mayfield to go off in his rematch with the Panthers. And that’s despite battling some right shoulder soreness this week. His lines: 150+ yards (-750), 175+ yards (-350) ... 250+ yards (+182), 275+ yards (+320).
- Emeka Egbuka — Player Receiving Yards: The rookie receiver, who was at one point the front-runner to be offensive rookie of the year, has a pretty modest receiving yards line set for Saturday. It’s at 24.5 yards. We understand he didn’t produce much Week 17 in Charlotte — only notched one catch (for 40 yards though) — but this line feels quite low.
- Tetairoa McMillan — Alternate Receiving Yards: McMillan had a career-low day against the Seattle Seahawks last weekend. But so did practically everyone on the Panthers offense. He was battling an illness, too. We expect the Panthers’ star rookie receiver to get back into the groove of things against the Bucs, and so too does FanDuel. His lines for receiving yards: 40+ yards (-330), 50+ yards (-188) ... 90+ yards (+280), 100+ yards (+390) ... and 150+ yards (+1500).
Our predictions: Can the Panthers take care of business?
The Observer’s panel of predictors earned a rare “sweep” last week. Columnist Scott Fowler and reporters Mike Kaye and Alex Zietlow all took the Seahawks beating the Panthers. Still didn’t help the bottom line all that much: Fowler leads all predictors at 9-7, with Kaye and Zietlow knotted at 5-11.
Fowler: Panthers 23, Bucs 16. No need to wait for Sunday and the ABI (Atlanta back-in) scenario; the Panthers go ahead and win their way in the right way. The offense does just enough, and Baker Mayfield makes just enough mistakes, for Carolina to advance.
Kaye: Panthers 24, Bucs 23. This one is a toss-up. After initially entering the week with the feeling Tampa Bay would right the ship at home, the universe is clearly pulling in the Panthers’ direction, given the Falcons’ win on Monday and Carolina’s win-loss-win trend of the past two months. I don’t feel good about this prediction, but I am confident that Carolina will be wearing hats and shirts with division champion emblems on them at some point this weekend. Get ready to become one-day Falcons fans if the Panthers can’t close.
Zietlow: Panthers 28, Bucs 27. Give Bryce Young his 13th game-winning drive since 2023. Give Ryan Fitzgerald his fifth game-winning kick in this year. Give Derrick Brown a sack, give Tre’Von Moehrig a tackle for loss or two — and, ultimately, give head coach Dave Canales his first playoff berth.
This story was originally published January 3, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
