{"id":385316,"date":"2026-01-03T11:05:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T11:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/385316\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T11:05:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T11:05:07","slug":"panthers-could-be-first-team-since-merger-to-make-playoffs-with-no-wins-as-favorites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/385316\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers could be first team since merger to make playoffs with no wins as favorites"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Panthers can make the playoffs in 2025, either by beating the Buccaneers on Saturday or by watching the Falcons beat the Saints on Sunday. If that happens, Carolina will be making a very specific type of history.<\/p>\n<p>Via Doug Clawson of CBS Sports, the 8-8 Panthers would be the first team since the 1970 merge to make the playoffs <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/doug_clawson\/status\/2007153644177895761?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">despite having zero wins as the favorite<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The 3-13 Jets also have no wins as the favorite. Obviously, they won\u2019t be making the playoffs. (Again.)<\/p>\n<p>The Panthers aren\u2019t favored in Week 18 at Tampa Bay. If the Panthers win the NFC South, they&#8217;;; undoubtedly be a significant underdog in the wild-card round, against the Seahawks, 49ers, or Rams.<\/p>\n<p>Carolina victories in 2025 include upset over a pair of NFC playoff teams \u2014 at the Packers and at home against the Rams. If the Panthers qualify for the postseason, they\u2019ll have no expectations. They\u2019ll hear talking heads say throughout the week that they\u2019re one of the worst teams to ever make it to the playoffs. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s give the Panthers a natural chip on the shoulder, with no pressure whatsoever to win. The No. 5 seed (whoever it is) may look past the Panthers, especially with (if the Bears and Eagles win their wild-card games at home) a rematch coming against the NFC West rival that earns the No. 1 seed (49ers or Seahawks).<\/p>\n<p>Carolina has already beaten L.A., despite being 10.5-point underdogs. While there\u2019s a pretty good chance they won\u2019t catch the Rams napping again, the Seahawks or 49ers could be vulnerable to a Charlotte surprise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Panthers can make the playoffs in 2025, either by beating the Buccaneers on Saturday or by watching&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-385316","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-nfl","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}