Panthers are 2 games out of the wildcard

[Leeroy Jenkins PhD]

The NFC is looking pretty weak this year.   If the season were to end today,  the wildcards would go to:

 

The 5-3 Giants and the 5-4 Lions.   

 

We are still alive in this thing!

[Snake]

Realistically we need to win at least 9. I think 10-5 will be the wildcard though . 

[Saca312]

I just realized that the NFC is really this bad. Wow. I thought we'd have to win the division to even dream of the playoffs, but this is very encouraging. 

[the butch]

It feels like 20 games after that ugly performance vs. the Rams.

[iamcline]

31 minutes ago, Snake said:

Realistically we need to win at least 9. I think 10-5 will be the wildcard though . 

11. That's our number.

[t96]

Technically 1 and a half behind the Lions... Tiebreakers are going to be important.

[bigdog10]

realistically, we are going to have to get to 10 wins to have a shot. And the one loss can't come to a NFC team. 

Our conf record is very bad with four losses already and we have a head to head loss against Minnesota who will be right there in the wild card hunt 

[Panther49er]

I'm still thinking we might have to win out... 10-6 is a toss up to get in and we would need some serious help. We've screwed ourselves in terms of tiebreakers thus far

[SOJA]

I think 10-6 gets us in this year- if the rest of the NFC realllly starts shitting the bed, we might sneak in with a 9-7 but it looks like we can afford to lose one more game this year. 

We've got some really tough matchups in our future too- Atlanta, Oak, NO and SD all have good passing offenses. KC and @Sea are really tough games too. 

Can we do it? Of course- I truly think we are a more complete team than anyone left on our schedule, but man I would feel SO much better about this if we had won the Den and TB games. 

I still maintain that if we do squeak into the playoffs we will be the most dangerous team- no pressure on us and our team would be gelling if that were the case. 

 

edit: I also want to add that we've had some really bad luck this year both in injuries and how the schedule has unfolded. We got the Viking when they were hot, played Denver in the home opener, had to go against Atl with zero secondary...

Our best hope is that Minnesota implodes and the ATL loses a few in a row- that team is just waiting to implode, they do it almost every year. 

[Yaboychris28]

this team screams 9-7

[Mage]

My eyes are still on the NFC South.  I really think the Falcons could drop 3 in a row - Eagles, Cardinals, and Chiefs all pose bad match-ups for them.  Now I wouldn't predict it to happen - more likely they win one.  But if we were to win our next 2 and they go 1-2 in that stretch, they would be 7-5 and we'd be 5-5 heading into a game with the Raiders.

Gonna be hard.  This team can't lose focus.  But it's possible.  Our pass rush has changed everything.

[SOJA]

Just now, Mage said:

My eyes are still on the NFC South.  I really think the Falcons could drop 3 in a row - Eagles, Cardinals, and Chiefs all pose bad match-ups for them.  Now I wouldn't predict it to happen - more likely they win one.  But if we were to win our next 2 and they go 1-2 in that stretch, they would be 7-5 and we'd be 5-5 heading into a game with the Raiders.

Gonna be hard.  This team can't lose focus.  But it's possible.  Our pass rush has changed everything.

It isn't crazy to see us going on a run in November/December and the Falcons shitting the bed- that's becoming a yearly tradition now

[pantherphan96]

unless we win out i think our only chance is taking the division at 9-7 or 10-6 because we are fuged on most wild card tiebreaker scenarios

[DamnItJake!]

they must play better than today to get today to the playoffs.. Didnt watch the game but listened to the the game on Panther radio...Mick said it looked liked Presason teams out there playing. so not a positive sign to go far in the season with wins...to struggle against the rams is not a plus