June 3, 2026, 1:47 p.m. CT
Weeks 10 and 14 of the NFL season will include matchups between the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers. The first of these meetings will be on Sunday, Nov. 15 in New Orleans. Their second meeting will take place on Sunday, December 13 at Carolina. These are the two squads that most feel will be the chief competitors for this year’s division title.
Carolina won last year’s NFC South championship with an 8-9 record. The downside of that was that it was the eighth consecutive season that the Panthers finished with a losing record. The Saints have missed out on the postseason for the fifth straight year in 2025, finishing with a 6-11 mark. However, New Orleans comes into 2026 with heightened expectations behind the promise of quarterback Tyler Shough and coach Kellen Moore, four wins in their last five games, and a vastly improved roster.
Included in the six wins for New Orleans last season was a sweep of the Panthers. It’s a series where the Saints have had a ton of recent success. Here’s a look at the numbers between these two division foes.
Saints vs Panthers series historyOverall: 34-29Home: 18-14Away: 16-15Last 10 matchups: 6-4Last 5 matchups: 4-1Longest Saints winning streak: 5 (2000-02)Longest Panthers winning streak: 4 (2002-04; 2005-07)Last meeting in New Orleans: Saints (20-17)Last meeting in Carolina: Saints (17-7)Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.
Carolina first entered the NFL during their 1995 expansion season. They were placed in the NFC West with the Saints and made the move with New Orleans to the NFC South during 2002 realignment. In their NFC West days, with the Saints owning a 8-6 advantage overall and 5-2 at home.
Once the NFC South was formed, Carolina took the first four meetings, 8 of the first 10, and 11 of the first 15 between these clubs through the end of the 2009 season. Included among that was the biggest oddity of this series, with the Panthers winning seven straight matchups in New Orleans between 2002 and 2008. Since then, the Saints have wrestled away control by going 13-5 at home against the Panthers since 2009 and 22-12 in the series overall. One of those was a Wild-Card playoff victory over the Panthers on Jan. 18, 2018, a 31-26 win by the Saints in New Orleans. Before last season, that 2017 campaign was the last time Carolina had made the playoffs.
While the Panthers are reigning division champs, they are coming off a season sweep at the hands of the Saints. In that first 2025 loss, then-rookie quarterback Tyler Shough notched his his first career victory by throwing for 282 yards and 2 scores. Five weeks later, Shough tossed for 272 yards and a touchdown to complete the season sweep. New Orleans has won five of the last six matchups between these teams. They hope to continue that recent success coming into 2026, as the Panthers and Saints are predicted by most to be the two chief squads competing for the NFC South crown.
