Panthers don’t have much to play for Sunday, but in these 5 season finales, they did
An NFL season finale can either have high stakes or no stakes — there’s really nothing in between. You’re either jockeying for playoff position or playing out the string, and this will be the third consecutive year that the Carolina Panthers are doing the latter.
There has been a lot of promise threaded through coach Matt Rhule’s first season. But Sunday’s Week 17 conclusion against a New Orleans team headed for the playoffs will be another example of the 5-10 Panthers on the outside looking in — Tiny Tim gazing at a brightly-lit store window, marveling at all the things he cannot have.
One day the Panthers will step inside that store again with money in their pocket, possibly even in 2021.
In the meantime, though, here are five of the most significant regular-season finales for the Panthers, in chronological order. How many do you remember?
Dec. 22, 1996: Cota’s pick
In only the Panthers’ second NFL season, safety Chad Cota secures a place in team history and grabs a playoff bye by intercepting Kordell Stewart’s pass in an end-zone scrum. This still may be the best single Carolina play ever in a season finale.
Jan. 2, 2000: Scoring madness
This remains one of my all-time favorite Panther games, period, because of all the weirdness involved.
Carolina began the afternoon needing to beat New Orleans by 18 points more than Green Bay beat Arizona by to keep their playoff hopes alive. Jake Delhomme quarterbacked a New Orleans team coached by Mike Ditka and threw four interceptions. He was also sacked twice by Kevin Greene in what was Greene’s final NFL game.
At one point — with Carolina leading 45-7 and 1:41 left in the game — the Panthers actually went for it on a fourth-and-10 from their own 39 to try to pile on more points. It didn’t work. Carolina ultimately won, 45-13. But Green Bay won by 25 points, meaning Carolina’s 32-point margin still wasn’t enough.
Jan. 2, 2005: Not quite enough vs. Saints
After a 1-7 start the year after they made the Super Bowl, the Panthers reeled off six wins in seven games. They went into the finale against New Orleans with a chance at the playoffs, but lost in Charlotte, 21-18.
Jan. 1, 2006: A rout vs. Atlanta
DeShaun Foster ran for 165 yards and Steve Smith caught passes for 131 more as Carolina blistered Atlanta, 44-11, setting up a fine postseason run. Michael Vick, a longtime Carolina nemesis, was held to zero rushing yards and 115 passing yards.
Dec. 28, 2014: Two pick-6s
Needing a victory to win the NFC South and make the playoffs at 7-8-1, Carolina torched Atlanta, 34-3, with Tre Boston and Roman Harper both scoring on pick-6 TDs.
Prediction time. In what is officially the final game of the 2020 regular season, the Saints have way more to play for than Carolina. Still, I feel like this will be relatively close, as the first game was.
My pick: New Orleans 30, Carolina 23.
