History shows that the Carolina Panthers are a tough team to beat in December.
The outcome of the final four games end to the 2016 season creates an interesting scenario for the Carolina Panthers. In recent years, the Panthers have shown that they are very strong in the month of December.
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But that statistical fact can cause fans and experts to point to how the Panthers start the season and wonder why this team struggled so mightily throughout the year. Even still, the two games remaining in the year the Panthers have the opportunity to close out another impressive December.
If the Panthers find a way to defeat NFC South rivals, the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, that will give them a 4-0 mark for December and close out the year with an 8-8 record overall. While that record blows out the mediocre expectations that grew on this team throughout the year, it’s not enough to allow the Panthers to keep the postseason run going.
However, two wins will give the Panthers and their fans at least something to hopefully build on as the team goes into offseason mode in a few weeks.
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Carolina consistently plays well in the final month of the calendar year. Looking back to past seasons reveals a trend of how tough this team is to defeat when Santa Claus is coming to town. 2010 was the last time that the Panthers finished under .500 in December. In 2010, the team was 1-3 to close out that year and ended the season at just 2-14 overall. In the years since then the team is 18-4 in December.
If only this theory could be applied to how well the team closes out tight games. The 2016 season, and even 2015 to a point, shows a number of examples in which the Panthers struggled to keep their opponents out of games late. Five of the eight losses from 2016 through 14 games were games in which the Panthers lost by three points or fewer. Turning those games around would also turn around the 2016 playoff hopes, though waxing on “what ifs” is futile.
The other side of the conversation is that Carolina is less consistent at the start of the year. In the same span of time, the team is around .500 in September. Momentum swings back and forth, easily changing the complexion of a game or even an entire season. Carolina finds themselves ending seasons well, but experiencing less steady success at the start of campaigns.
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The season is over for the Panthers. Cam Newton and company were unable to live up to the expectations that this team built on a very strong 2015 campaign. Even if the group continues their trend of having a winning December, that doesn’t give much solace for how the season turned out.
There are a lot of questions that the Carolina front office will work to answer in the coming months of postseason activities. To some, a strong end to the season creates hope for an improved campaign the next year. Unfortunately, that trend hasn’t always worked out for the Carolina Panthers.