Between the loss of quarterback Cam Newton to a season-ending foot injury in the second game of the 2019 campaign and the end of the 2024 season, the Carolina Panthers posted a 29-69 record, the worst in the NFL during that span.

Across the six seasons before that slide, the Panthers had a 58-37-1 regular-season record. Carolina went to the playoffs four times, won three NFC South titles and captured the NFC championship for the 2015 season.

Over the past six seasons, though, the Panthers have had no playoff appearances. But they have had four head coaches, three interim head coaches and nine starting quarterbacks, including Newton again for five games in 2021.

This season, Carolina opened its schedule as it had for the previous three years — losing its first two games. Since then, the Panthers have followed each loss with a victory. Carolina climbed to a 7-6 record on Sunday by beating the Los Angeles Rams 31-28 as 10.5-point underdogs.

In his second season as Carolina’s coach, Dave Canales said the team’s resilience is rooted in “humility.”

“It’s playing games where we’re humbled by not having great execution,” Canales said after Sunday’s victory, “and knowing that we have to get back to our basics, our fundamentals and execution. And this is a humble group. It’s the leadership of our team. It’s Derrick Brown and it’s Bryce (Young) and these guys taking one game and saying we can do better than this and rising to the challenge, making sure that we’re being intentional with what we’re doing every single day and how critical it is to execute on game day.”

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Young has started 40 games at quarterback since the Panthers picked him from Alabama at No. 1 in the 2023 NFL Draft.

After he threw three touchdown passes against the Rams, Young said he sees his teammates’ humility in “our willingness to chase our best, to want to get better. Coach challenged us with that early on in the week and throughout the week — just trying to find our best. And, you know, good game, bad game, whatever it may be, we have a bunch of guys that come in and just focus on the work. They want to be better. They want to grow. They want to watch and see how we can grow as a unit, as a team, so it’s all individuals and it’s part of the culture.”

An All-American at Auburn, Brown joined the Panthers as the seventh pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. He was a Pro Bowl selection at defensive tackle in 2023 even though Carolina won only two games that season. The Panthers posted a 19-48 record in Brown’s appearances before this season.

After a knee injury limited him to one game in 2024, Brown has started every contest in 2025, and on Sunday, he tipped a pass that was intercepted in the end zone, and his strip sack ended Los Angeles’ comeback opportunity.

“Man, I don’t care who does it, how it looks, as long as it gets done,” Brown said. “I’ll sit here and I say it like this: This is the most selfless team I’ve been a part of. I mean, from the D-line room to the back end, we all celebrate one another, and that’s something that I hold on a high pedestal.”

For the first time since the 2018 season, the Panthers entered December with a winning record. After its open date this week, Carolina will close its regular-season schedule by visiting the New Orleans Saints on Dec. 14, hosting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Dec. 21 and Seattle Seahawks on Dec. 28 and visiting the Buccaneers on Jan. 4.

The Panthers are one-half game behind Tampa Bay at the top of the NFC South standings. The 7-5 Bucs face the Saints on Sunday, the Atlanta Falcons on Dec. 11 and Miami Dolphins on Dec. 28 in addition to their two games against Carolina.