Carolina Panthers earn poor grade for Week 17 loss, but not poor enough

The Carolina Panthers may be much more talented and capable than in years past, but one element remains the same. Every time this fanbase is ready to believe in them, the team lets them down.

That much was evident once again in Sunday's home loss to the Seattle Seahawks - the same as it's been the last 12 times that the Panthers have been favorites against their opponents.

Bank of America Stadium was loud yesterday - louder than it's been in 10 years - loud enough to even draw a delay of game penalty against Sam Darnold at one point. That noise is the sound of a fanbase that's desperate for good news - but once again the Panthers couldn't get the job done.

For their efforts, John Breech at CBS Sports gave them a generous C- grade for the game.

CBS gives Panthers C- grade

"The Panthers can't be feeling good about their offense after the unit essentially pulled a no-show against the Seahawks... And let's not forget about the fact that the Panthers only totaled 139 yards. It's bad enough when your offense can't move the ball, but when you also commit two turnovers, there's just no way you're going to beat a good team like Seattle (or any good team for that matter)."

All things considered Carolina's defense was phenomenal. Christian Rozeboom was solid, Derrick Brown was dominant, Mike Jackson was sensational and even DJ Wonnum was making plays. If not for Jaycee Horn's inexplicably bone-headed face-mask penalty against Jaxon Smith-Njigba things might have gone differently.

However, when you only show up on one side of the ball you're not going to win a whole lot of games at this level - unless you have a defense like the Seahawks, which has somehow enabled them to go 5-1 when Sam Darnold commits two or more turnovers.

Carolina doesn't have a superpower like that - the only way they can win is through sheer daring - and in that department they were dramatically let down by head coach Dave Canales, who called an atrocious, conservative gameplan against the league's best defense.

Offensively Bryce Young was bad by any metric, but he wasn't exactly set up for success. With Tetairoa McMillan getting blanketed he had exactly no help at all, as Xavier Legette was lost in whatever world he retreats to when not facing the Jets.

With those two options off the table, Young had exactly nowhere to throw the ball. That the Panthers didn't even try to sign or trade for another weapon for him before the deadline is a massive failure by the front office.

And so, they'll play for all the NFC South marbles next week against Tampa, but even if they win all it will mean is getting humiliated by a far-superior team in the Wild-Card round.

As much progress as they've made - make no mistake. These Panthers still have a ton of work to do before they're ready to win a playoff game.

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