Panthers NFL Playoff Odds: Carolina's NFC South Odds Get Big Boost on Monday Night

Iain MacMillan | 2 Hours Ago

The Carolina Panthers are now significant favorites to win the NFC South entering Week 18. / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

After failing to upset the Seattle Seahawks in Week 17, it looked like the Carolina Panthers were going to need to once again defeat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a winner-take-all game in Week 18.

Then, the Atlanta Falcons upset the Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night Football, and all of a sudden, the Panthers have two paths to winning the NFC South in the season's final week.

The Panthers would lose a head-to-head tiebreaker with the Buccaneers if both teams finish with the same record, which will happen if Tampa Bay wins its matchup on Saturday. The Buccaneers would be in based on the third head-to-head tiebreaker, record against common opponents, due to them finishing with the same record in both head-to-head games and against divisional opponents.

But, now that the Falcons have won three-straight games, they would also finish at 8-9 with a Week 18 win against the Saints, which would then shift the tiebreaking criteria to a three-way gridlock. In that situation, the first tiebreaker would be record amongst the three tied teams, and the Panthers would get the nod due to their 2-0 record against the Falcons. The Buccaneers split their season series against them.

All of that to say is the Panthers have two ways they can claim their first divisional title since Cam Newton led them to the Super Bowl in 2015. Either they can beat the Buccaneers on Saturday, or, if they fail to do that, they can still get in if the Falcons can beat the Saints on Sunday.

The Panthers are +120 underdogs to win in Tampa Bay on Saturday, but the Falcons are -162 favorites against the Saints on Sunday, making the latter the more likely outcome. Given that they have two paths to winning the division, DraftKings Sportsbook has set their odds of being NFC South champions at -390, an implied probability of 79.59%.

All of this can be forgotten if the Panthers win on Saturday, but if they don't, no group of people will be cheering for the Falcons harder on Sunday than Panthers fans.

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