Carolina Panthers: Playoff chances dwindling after Seahawks loss
The Carolina Panthers Week 12 loss to the Seahawks takes their once promising playoff chances and starts to put them in jeopardy.
Through the first nine weeks of the 2018 season, the Carolina Panthers had earned bonafide sleeper status in the NFC Playoff picture. They sat at 6-2 and, though they still trailed the New Orleans Saints in the NFC South, they were primed to secure a Wild Card berth. Fast forward to the conclusion of their Week 12 matchup against the Seattle Seahawks, and the outlook for the Panthers is much dimmer.
Coming off of back-to-back road losses to the Pittsburgh Steelers and Detroit Lions, the Panthers returned home in Week 12 in need of a win. Not only were they creeping far closer to .500 than they would ever hope to, but the Seahawks also presented a threat to their positioning in the Wild Card race. Unfortunately, the Panthers didn’t fully rise to the occasion.
Make no mistake, Cam Newton, Christian McCaffrey and the Carolina offense came to play. They put up 27 points on the Seahawks defense and continually moved the ball well. However, Russell Wilson and the Seahawks offense did the same to the Panthers defense. The result was a semi-shootout with Seattle knocking the game-winning field goal through the uprights as time expired.
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The loss for Carolina not only gives them three consecutive defeats on their ledger, but knocks them out of the playoffs if the season were to end today. Their 6-5 overall record ties them with both Seattle and the Washington Redskins, the latter holding a tiebreaker over both for the No. 6 seed in the NFC.
Of course, the Redskins are moving forward this season with Colt McCoy replacing Alex Smith and with a litany of injuries elsewhere on the roster. Thus, they are likely to fall out of that spot as the season progresses. However, that’s what makes Carolina’s loss to the Seahawks on Sunday sting all the more.
With the loss, the Panthers would now lose a tiebreaker with the Seahawks should they have identical records at season’s end. After looking like a sleeper to not just make the postseason, but maybe even sneak up on the juggernaut Saints, Carolina looks like a decidedly average team that could well miss out on the playoffs.
What’s more, Carolina’s final five games aren’t exactly a cake-walk. They should be able to handle the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next week, but they still have a red-hot Cleveland Browns team on the road, two matchups with the Saints and the second meeting with the Atlanta Falcons remaining on the docket.
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This isn’t to say that the Panthers can’t compete in those games. As they showed early in the season, they can look like an elite team at times. However, they haven’t been in that form of late. And after this latest setback, they need to recapture that form if they want to keep their postseason hopes intact.