{"id":700294,"date":"2026-01-24T01:30:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T01:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/700294\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T01:30:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T01:30:17","slug":"all-aboard-panthers-make-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/700294\/","title":{"rendered":"All aboard: Panthers make playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nCarolina Panthers tight end Tommy Tremble leaps in the end zone for a touchdown during the season finale against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. (Peter Joneleit \/ AP Photo\/)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an old saying among frequent flyers who travel standby: \u201cIt\u2019s not a bad seat if it\u2019s on the inside of the plane.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, if you hear your named called at the gate and are issued a boarding pass, you\u2019re headed down the jetbridge to a good seat.<\/p>\n

Because you got in. You\u2019re on board.<\/p>\n

After nearly a decade of being left at the gate, the Carolina Panthers<\/a> are stowing their carry-ons and buckling their seat belt.<\/p>\n

The Panthers are in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Yes, it would have been nice if they beat the Bucs to remove all drama. Sure, their record and point differential won\u2019t strike fear into the hearts of opponents. While the Saints, Cowboys, Lions and 15 other teams faced Black Monday after their regular season finale, it was the start of game week at Bank of America Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are really excited about being back in Bank of America Stadium one more time,\u201d coach Dave Canales said. \u201cTo have one more chance in front of our fans, with the energy they have brought, especially down the stretch this season, it\u2019s a very exciting opportunity for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Panthers will host the Los Angeles Rams, who brought a six-game winning streak and the best record in the NFL to Bank of America Stadium in November, only to suffer an upset loss. MVP candidate Matt Stafford turned the ball over three times as Carolina won 31-28<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the Rams are eager to show that the result was a fluke, the Panthers have reason for optimism. They were without cornerback Jaycee Horn for that first game. The team\u2019s only 2025 pro-bowl selection will be playing in the Wild Card Game. The Panthers also might get back offensive lineman Robert Hunt, out since week two, and receiver David Moore, out since week four.<\/p>\n

More important than any injury news, however is the mere fact that the Panthers are playing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a fantastic opportunity,\u201d Canales said. \u201cAs much as I try to preach to our group, every game is a championship moment, every game is a championship opportunity, here it is right in front of us now. We\u2019re in the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are doubters aplenty, and with good reason. The Panthers are just the seventh team in league history to make the playoffs with a losing record. And two of the others did so in the strike-shortened 1982 season. The Panthers won the South in 2014 with a 7-8-1 mark, making them the only team to pull the back-in to the postseason twice.<\/p>\n

They also allowed 69 more points than they scored this season. Only three teams in the entire NFC had a worse point differential this season. It\u2019s the worst point differential for a playoff team in 14 years, and only three playoff teams in NFL history had a worse one. The Panthers can take heart in the fact that all three won their wild card game.<\/p>\n

This will be the first playoff game for 31 players on the Panthers roster.<\/p>\n

Despite that, Canales wants things to be business as usual. His predecessors spent much of the last decade in Carolina showing how rare these opportunities are, but he wants the team to treat it like any other game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to try to make sure that our focus doesn\u2019t waver or shift,\u201d he said. \u201cLike you don\u2019t have to do anything that you haven\u2019t done before. It\u2019s about the basics. Football this time of year is about tackling. It\u2019s about blocking, and it\u2019s about being really efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the same,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be the same message coming from me: I don\u2019t need you to be special all game. There\u2019s going to be three to five opportunities in the game where you\u2019ve got to call it all up. Use all the tools that you have with your mind and your legs and your arm to make those plays when the time is right. And that can be early, that can be late in the game. But it\u2019s really important to understand that part. You don\u2019t have to carry this thing. You just have to do your part and be efficient and make the right decisions so that we can play our best football.\u201d<\/p>\n

People can say they don\u2019t belong. They can claim they have no shot, but the Carolina Panthers are here.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a great feeling to be able to bring that back here to Carolina and share that feeling of that first championship,\u201d Canales said. \u201cAnd now the mentality shifts. (The goal is) 1-0 with a chance to win the world championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spoken like someone who got a seat on the inside of the plane.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carolina Panthers tight end Tommy Tremble leaps in the end zone for a touchdown during the season finale…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[235,260,2567,7,6,236],"class_list":{"0":"post-700294","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-panthers","8":"tag-carolina","9":"tag-carolina-panthers","10":"tag-carolinapanthers","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115947493034992534","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700294","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=700294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}