CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Dave Canales surprised his players Monday by canceling position meetings and turning them loose for the bye week — but not before offering them a reminder.

“Guys are free to do and go wherever they want to go. My message to them is just like, ‘Look what we’re playing for. Look what we’re working for. Let’s be smart. Let’s take care of our bodies and make sure we move within reason,’” said Canales, the Carolina Panthers’ second-year coach.

“Just giving them some last remarks and making sure that they all understand we have something great to protect here.”

What the Panthers have to protect is playoff positioning, a concept as rare in Charlotte as snow removal. The Panthers’ 31-28 upset of the Los Angeles Rams improved their record to 7-6, their best mark through Week 13 since 2017. That was the season before David Tepper bought the Panthers and the last time they made the playoffs.

Under interim coach Steve Wilks in 2022, the Panthers went to Tampa in Week 17 with a 6-9 record but with a shot to make the playoffs. But Tom Brady threw for 432 yards and three touchdowns in a 30-24 win that ended the Panthers’ playoff hopes.

But when the Panthers return from their break — the latest bye week on the NFL schedule — they will be firmly in the NFC playoff race with four games remaining. And again their postseason fate will be determined by how they fare against the Buccaneers.

The Panthers can clinch the NFC South by sweeping the Bucs (7-5) in Week 16 and 18, and by beating New Orleans OR Seattle. That scenario would give the Panthers a 10-7 record. Tampa Bay could do no better than 10-7, and the Panthers would win the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Meanwhile, the Bucs can claim their fifth consecutive South title with division wins the next three weeks against New Orleans, Atlanta and Carolina. Tampa Bay would be guaranteed to finish no worse than 10-7 in that scenario. Even if the Panthers were to knock off the Bucs in Week 18 to split the season series, the Panthers would have a worse division record, which is the second tiebreaker.

There are a number of other scenarios — more on those in a bit. But Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard was right Sunday when he said he believed the Panthers control their own fate.

“So it’s in our hands,” Hubbard said. “Every week is a must-win. But I believe we have the Saints next so that’s gonna be our focus. And then chop that tree down and then just keep going.”

The Saints (2-10) handed the Panthers their only division loss by knocking off Carolina 17-7 in Week 10. The lackluster performance against New Orleans came a week after the Panthers stunned Green Bay 16-13 at Lambeau Field, part of a confounding season during which they’ve followed up good wins with bad losses — and vice versa.

“This is a maturing team, and it’s about handling the fundamentals and the basics,” Canales said in the way of an explanation. “It always comes down to a handful of plays, whether it’s on defense, offense or special teams. Certainly, taking care of the ball is the big thing we talk about. But it really just comes down to the fundamental execution and consistency that we’re looking for.”

If the Panthers can find that consistency over the final month, they have a shot to end one of the NFL’s longest active playoff droughts. The Panthers’ seven-year stretch of missing the postseason is tied with the Falcons for the second longest, behind only the New York Jets’ 14-year drought.

Left tackle Ikem Ekwonu said it feels good to be discussing the playoffs as the calendar flips to December.

“These are the conversations we want to be having. Too many times around this time (the Panthers are) talking about draft picks and talking about ruining someone’s season,” Ekwonu said. “That’s not the conversation I wanna be in this year. I wanna be in those talks for the postseason.”

While a wild-card berth isn’t out of the question, the Panthers’ clearest path to a postseason berth is through Tampa via the division. The San Francisco 49ers are currently in position for the NFC’s third and final wild-card spot. The 49ers (9-4) have a two-game edge on the Panthers that’s really like a three-game advantage, by virtue of their 20-9 victory on “Monday Night Football” last week.

According to The Athletic’s NFL playoff simulator, the Panthers have a 46 percent chance to make the playoffs if they split with the Bucs but defeat the Saints and Seahawks, who are 9-3 and in second place in the NFC West.

Assuming a split with the Bucs, the Panthers’ chances drop to 9 percent if they beat New Orleans but lose to Seattle, and dip to 5 percent if they fall to the Saints for a second time but defeat Seattle.

Hubbard, one of the few players remaining from the 2022 team that made a late playoff push, doesn’t want to get caught up in all the scenarios, percentages and tiebreakers. Instead, the Canadian-born back is taking a more straightforward approach.

“To be honest, every week is a must win,” Hubbard said. “We’re gonna go into this bye week, rest up, study, take the lessons from everything that’s happened and just keep moving forward. Try to finish the season.”

With an interception of Matthew Stafford that he returned for a touchdown, Mike Jackson was one of the heroes of the win over the Rams. But the 28-year-old cornerback said those good vibes from the Rams’ game will go for naught if the Panthers have another letdown against the Saints.

“If we don’t come to play in New Orleans, then it really doesn’t mean much,” Jackson said. “We got to lock in on them because if I’m not mistaken, we beat Green Bay and then played (New Orleans), so it is kind of the same situation. We just have to lock in and go win that day.”