Yes, the Carolina Panthers are in the NFL playoffs. Here’s what happens next
The Carolina Panthers backed their way straight into the NFL playoffs Sunday afternoon, courtesy of their frenemies — the Atlanta Falcons.
It’s a weird way to break a postseason drought that stretched all the way back to the 2017 season, but the Panthers will take it. They have clinched the NFC’s No. 4 seed and will play a home game in Charlotte at Bank of America Stadium Saturday.
The Panthers’ opponent: The 12-5 Los Angeles Rams, a team they edged 31-28 on Nov. 30. The game is set for 4:30 p.m. Saturday (FOX). Of the six NFL playoff games played this weekend, Panthers-Rams will be the very first. The Rams are an early 10-point favorite.
With Panthers players, coaches and fans glued to their TV sets to support the rival Falcons, Atlanta did Carolina a huge favor with a 19-17 win over New Orleans in Atlanta. Former Panthers kicker Zane Gonzalez might need to get a bonus from his old team — with four field goals and an extra point, Gonzalez scored 13 of the Falcons’ 19 points.
The Atlanta win meant that Tampa Bay, Atlanta and Carolina all technically tied for first place in the NFC South with an (ahem) 8-9 record. But Carolina triumphed in the three-way tiebreaker, by virtue of its better overall record against the other first-place teams.
You won’t be hanging an 8-9 overall record in an art gallery — the Panthers actually clinched their eighth straight losing season with Saturday’s 16-14 loss to Tampa Bay — but you will be able to attend a playoff game in Charlotte Saturday. Tickets are now available online at Ticketmaster (as of Monday, the cheapest tickets on Ticketmaster’s verified resale market were about $177 apiece).
This will be Carolina’s first home playoff game since the Super Bowl season of 2015 — so if you’re thinking it’s been a while the city has felt quite this way, well, it has. In 2017 during their last postseason appearance, they played one playoff game on the road, in New Orleans, and lost.
Panthers coach Dave Canales said he and his family watched every minute of the Falcons-Saints game from their couch at home Sunday afternoon, timing their snack breaks so as not to miss a play. When it was over, Canales had a call with Panthers owner David Tepper.
Recounted Canales Sunday in a teleconference with local media: “When he (Tepper) answered the phone, I said, ‘Is this the owner of the NFC South champion Panthers?’ And... he got a good kick out of that.”
Canales also said that when the game ended, he and his family burst out into their yard, only to find a number of other people had the same idea after being cooped up watching a football game for three hours.
“The neighborhood is crazy,” Canales said. “We were yelling from our couch as a family, and then walked outside where we normally, you know, ride bikes and walk the dogs. And there were just neighbors out in front, in the front yards. Everyone was really excited.”
Panthers safety Nick Scott had talked about this exact hypothetical scenario in the locker room in Tampa, following Carolina’s loss.
Said Scott of the idea of the Panthers making the playoffs at 8-9 with a Falcons win: “Clean slate. Record doesn’t matter. You know, in my time, I’ve seen teams that ‘had no business’ being in the playoffs and knocked somebody off in the first round. So I don’t care how I get in, I just want to get in as somebody who’s gone the distance.
“All I’m looking for is a chance, you know, because that’s hard to do,” Scott continued. “And if we get in, and we’re division winners, we’re deserving of it, period. ... I don’t care what anybody has to say about it. We’re supposed to be there.”
And the Panthers are there, despite losing three of their final four games in an up-and-down regular season. Carolina missed multiple chances to make the playoffs on its own with a win. If the Panthers had won either of their last two games, they would have made it outright. But now they are in the 14-team NFL playoff field anyway.
“Here we are with everything in front of us,” Canales said, “and everybody’s record is obsolete now. It’s all 0-0. And we’ve got the 1-0 mentality, with a chance to for a championship.””
The Rams became Carolina’s opponent by beating the Arizona Cardinals 37-20 Sunday, which gave Los Angeles the No. 5 seed. The Panthers’ other two potential playoff opponents entering the weekend had been Seattle and San Francisco, both of whom had defeated Carolina by double digits this season. The Panthers played their best game of the season the first time around against the Rams — turning Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford over three times, getting three 30-yard plus TD passes from Bryce Young and seeing cornerback Mike Jackson get a pick-6 interception for a fourth score.
This story was originally published January 4, 2026 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Yes, the Carolina Panthers are in the NFL playoffs. Here’s what happens next."
