The Carolina Panthers are 6-6, already exceeding 2024’s win total. They’re also improbably only a half-game back of first place in the NFC South and a couple back of the final wild card. This season is very much alive at this point.
However, it shouldn’t be controversial to say that it probably isn’t actually alive. Yes, the Panthers are in the hunt, but they’re not a legitimate contender, and their stay will end soon. Fans might know that, but one analyst just admitted it after the latest loss.
Panthers exposed as pretender heading into Week 13
Nov 24, 2025; Santa Clara, California, USA; Carolina Panthers linebacker Krys Barnes (40) and linebacker Bam Martin-Scott (57) tackle San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) during the first half at Levi’s Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
It’s been fun to consider the Panthers making the playoffs, something that impossibly is still theoretically achievable. They’ve lost some bad games and are only 6-6, yet they remain firmly in the race for the NFC South.
Unfortunately, most underlying metrics suggest they are fool’s gold, and by season’s end, we may be wondering how this team was ever considered a playoff threat whatsovever. At least, that’s kind of what Bleacher Report analyst Brad Gagnon thinks is the case.
“A 6-6 team that has scored fewer than 10 points three times in the last five weeks (and 16 or fewer in five of the last six) is not a real contender,” he wrote, using one sentence to describe all NFL teams at this point in the season.
The NFC South remains a wide-open division, but that’s because the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are not very good, either. The Panthers might steal the division title, but that seems unlikely since this team is probably capped at eight wins, and they may not even get that many.
They’re 6-6, but the point differential suggests they’re a pretty bad team. Only eight teams have been outscored by more points, and those are teams like the Tennessee Titans, Las Vegas Raiders, and New York Giants, so it’s not exactly good company to be in.
They’re outperforming their record, which is totally fine for a team that honestly still has a talent deficiency. We just have to be honest, as Gagnon was, about what this team really is.
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