{"id":729195,"date":"2026-02-04T16:52:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T16:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/729195\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T16:52:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T16:52:16","slug":"panthers-not-expected-to-contend-for-2026-playoffs-for-one-big-reason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/729195\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers Not Expected to Contend for 2026 Playoffs for One Big Reason"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2025 NFL season has come down to the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots clashing in Super Bowl LX <\/a>this Sunday. It marks the first time since Super Bowl XXXVIII, the 2003 season, that two teams that failed to reach the playoffs the previous season will play for the Lombardi Trophy one year later.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s awfully early, to say the least. Zolt\u00e1n Buday <\/a>of Pro Football Focus recently named three teams that reached the postseason in \u201925 that could struggle to return to the playoffs in 2026. They would be the aforementioned Patriots, the reigning AFC North champion Pittsburgh Steelers and new head coach Mike McCarthy, and Dave Canales\u2019s NFC South champions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the Panthers,\u201d said Buday, \u201cand quarterback Bryce Young <\/a>finished the season on a high note by putting up a fight in a narrow wild-card loss to the Los Angeles Rams<\/a> after being written off, most indicators suggest the team overperformed by reaching the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Panthers Were a Rollercoaster Ride in 2025<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough Young played well in that postseason loss,\u201d explained Buday, \u201chis performance across the full season was far more inconsistent. In fact, only two of the other 13 playoff quarterbacks\u2014Aaron Rodgers and C.J. Stroud\u2014earned lower PFF overall grades than Young\u2019s 71.0 this season. Improved consistency and overall play will be required from Young for Carolina to take the next step toward true Super Bowl contention.\u201d<\/p>\n

That inconsistency was on full display in 2025. During the season, the 8-9 Panthers<\/a> went through a stretch in which they alternated wins and losses for 10 consecutive games from Week 7-17. Including the playoff loss to the Rams, Canales\u2019s club ended the season <\/a>with a three-game losing streak.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Panthers benefited significantly from success in high-leverage situations in 2025,\u201d added Buday. \u201cThey generated 0.794 expected points added (EPA) per play on fourth-down plays, fifth in the NFL, while their 63 percent success rate on those attempts ranked eighth. However, on the first three downs, Carolina\u2019s offense averaged just -0.09 EPA per play, which ranked 27th in the league and last among playoff teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReplicating that level of fourth-down efficiency is far from guaranteed,\u201d summarized Buday, \u201cmeaning the Panthers will need much more consistent early-down play in 2026 to sustain postseason success.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an awful lot of numbers, and it\u2019s worth noting that these Panthers did lose 10 of their 18 overall contests. Will this team build on this season\u2019s playoff appearance, or head in the opposite direction?<\/p>\n

– Enjoy more free Panthers coverage with Carolina Panthers on SI –<\/p>\n

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Panthers urged to spend big on interior offensive line once again<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 NFL season has come down to the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots clashing in Super…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[77],"tags":[7,6,84],"class_list":{"0":"post-729195","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-playoffs","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-nfl-playoffs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116013403547993567","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729195","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=729195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}