{"id":588799,"date":"2025-12-10T05:27:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T05:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/588799\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T05:27:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T05:27:20","slug":"where-do-the-panthers-stand-after-week-14-bye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/588799\/","title":{"rendered":"Where do the Panthers stand after Week 14 bye?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Carolina Panthers<\/a> did not play this past week. Even still, they ended up coming away from the NFL’s most recent slate of games with a pretty big win<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the NFC South-leading Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> fell to the visiting New Orleans Saints<\/a>\u2014in a sloppy 24-20 upset. The loss bumped the Bucs to 7-6 and moved the Panthers, with just four outings left, up into a tie atop the division.<\/p>\n

So, did Carolina also improve their standing across the post-Week 14 power rankings?<\/p>\n

Here’s where they’ve settled in following their break . . .<\/p>\n

USA Today<\/p>\n

Rank: 14 (+3)<\/p>\n

Author: Nate Davis<\/a><\/p>\n

Take: Quite the bye week. Not only did they move into a first-place tie atop the NFC South, they now control their destiny. Simply Sweep the Bucs in Weeks 16 and 18, and the Panthers win the division for the first time since they went to Super Bowl 50 \u2026 which, coincidentally, was in Santa Clara, also the site of Super Bowl 60 this season.<\/p>\n

NFL Media<\/p>\n

Rank: 18 (-)<\/p>\n

Author: Eric Edholm<\/a><\/p>\n

Take: The league’s most curiously competitive team (along with the Jaguars<\/a>), the Panthers floated into their Week 14 bye following the dramatic home victory\u00a0over the Rams<\/a>\u00a0that gave them a real path to the postseason. Tampa Bay’s crushing\u00a0loss to New Orleans\u00a0just made it a little smoother, too. Of course, the way this Carolina season has gone — ping-ponging between wins and losses since Week 7, and having some\u00a0interesting\u00a0results along the way — we’re not taking anything for granted. The Saints are no gimme this Sunday; they beat the Panthers,\u00a017-7, a month ago. But the division\u00a0should\u00a0be decided in Carolina’s showdowns with Tampa Bay in Weeks 16 and 18. Can\u00a0Bryce Young\u00a0deliver? He, like the team, has been alternately hot and cold, but Young has a chance to fully secure his future in Carolina with a big finish.<\/p>\n

ESPN<\/p>\n

Rank: 18 (+2)<\/p>\n

Author: David Newton<\/a><\/p>\n

Take (on team’s most shocking statistical ranking [31st in sacks]): This is shocking for several reasons. First, Carolina put a lot of effort into adding talent to improve on a last-place ranking in sacks (27) a season ago and are headed for a worse year (18 so far). That’s significant because sacks and pressure are key to coordinator\u00a0Ejiro Evero’s 3-4 scheme. But the Panthers are still much better on defense overall (16th in points allowed) and in position to make the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Pro Football Talk<\/p>\n

Rank: 15 (-)<\/p>\n

Author: Mike Florio<\/a><\/p>\n

Take: If they make the playoffs, drinks will be\u00a0on the house.<\/p>\n

CBS Sports<\/p>\n

Rank: 14 (+5)<\/p>\n

Author: Pete Prisco<\/a><\/p>\n

Take: They come off their bye tied with the Bucs in the division race at 7-6, with two games left against them. They can’t look past the Saints this week.<\/p>\n

Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n

Rank: 16 (+2)<\/p>\n

Author: Conor Orr<\/a><\/p>\n

Take: As much as I\u2019ve openly despised the NFL\u2019s turn toward broadcast-satiating schedule making, having Carolina play Tampa Bay twice in the final month of the season is turning out to be an absolute masterstroke.<\/p>\n

The Athletic<\/p>\n

Rank: 15 (+3)<\/p>\n

Author: Chad Graff and Josh Kendall<\/a><\/p>\n

Take: Carolina has a 31 percent chance of making the postseason, which is better than anyone would have expected at this point of the season. The problem is the Panthers have the 13th-hardest remaining schedule, with the Seahawks and two games against the Buccaneers still looming. Tampa, in particular, has been a problem. Carolina has won just one of its last 10 against the Bucs.<\/p>\n

Bleacher Report<\/p>\n

Rank: 16 (+3)<\/p>\n

Author: Gary Davenport<\/a><\/p>\n

Take: The next four games are the most important of Bryce Young’s three-year career.<\/p>\n

After shocking the Rams in Los Angeles last week, the Panthers headed to the bye week at 7-6. After the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were stunned at home by the New Orleans Saints, Carolina is tied with the Bucs for first place in the NFC South.<\/p>\n

The Panthers have a legitimate shot at the playoffs.<\/p>\n

However, making the postseason is going to take the best football of Young’s career. After a winnable contest against the Saints in Week 15, Carolina has to run a three-week gauntlet: two matchups with the Bucs sandwiched around a visit from another NFC West power in the Seattle Seahawks.<\/p>\n

There’s a lot riding on those four games for the Panthers, including (potentially) whether Carolina picks up Young’s fifth-year option in 2026.<\/p>\n

Follow\u00a0@ThePanthersWire<\/a>\u00a0on Twitter\/X for more Panthers content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Carolina Panthers did not play this past week. Even still, they ended up coming away from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588800,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[247,265,240,210,211,235,260,2567,324,3629,12,388,7,20842,379,212,125,213,1184,239,58,2641,4049,248,826,267,246,206,55,88,6,35196,676,245,264,236,424,397,818,1602,2517,817,829,9,266,819,209,250,811,776],"class_list":{"0":"post-588799","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-panthers","8":"tag-american","9":"tag-american-football","10":"tag-angeles","11":"tag-bay","12":"tag-buccaneers","13":"tag-carolina","14":"tag-carolina-panthers","15":"tag-carolinapanthers","16":"tag-conference","17":"tag-davis","18":"tag-espn","19":"tag-espn-inc","20":"tag-football","21":"tag-hub","22":"tag-inc","23":"tag-jacksonville","24":"tag-jacksonville-jaguars","25":"tag-jaguars","26":"tag-listicle","27":"tag-los","28":"tag-los-angeles-rams","29":"tag-nate","30":"tag-nate-davis","31":"tag-national","32":"tag-national-football-conference","33":"tag-national-sports","34":"tag-neutral","35":"tag-new","36":"tag-new-orleans-saints","37":"tag-news","38":"tag-nfl","39":"tag-nfl-hub","40":"tag-orleans","41":"tag-overall","42":"tag-overall-neutral","43":"tag-panthers","44":"tag-rams","45":"tag-saints","46":"tag-scores","47":"tag-smg","48":"tag-smg-listicle","49":"tag-sport","50":"tag-sport-scores-u0026-statistics","51":"tag-sports","52":"tag-sports-news","53":"tag-statistics","54":"tag-tampa","55":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","56":"tag-twitter","57":"tag-u0026"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}