Carolina Panthers to Miss 2026 Playoffs? Rival Gets Spot in Insider’s Prediction

The Panthers won a division title in 2025—the franchise’s first in 10 years. An NFL analyst has played out next season and Carolina will be dethroned in 2026.

Dec 21, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales greets quarterback Bryce Young (9) after a win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

The Seattle Seahawks pushed around the New England Patriots, 29-13, in Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium. It capped off a very unpredictable 2025 NFL season in which the Philadelphia Eagles were the only division champion to repeat from a year ago. Teams such as the Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, San Francisco 49ers, and the AFC champion Patriots all rebounded from seasons in which they lost at least 11 games in 2024 to reach the playoffs.

Apparently, there will no mystery when it comes to the league’s 107th campaign. All kidding aside, Taylyn Hadley of Bleacher Report has already laid out the playoff brackets for NFL 2026. She also went as far as forecasting a champion, with the Buffalo Bills knocking off the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl LXI at SoFi Stadium.

Among Hadley’s predictions for ‘26 is a change at the top of the NFC South. This season, the Carolina Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Atlanta Falcons all finished with 8-9 records, Dave Canales’s club wound up winning the division based on the fact that they owned a combined 3-1 mark vs. the Falcons (2-0) and Bucs. The Panthers were NFC South champions for the first time since their Super Bowl 50 campaign in 2015, and reached the playoffs for the first time since 2017.

Nov 16, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Carolina Panthers tight end Tommy Tremble (82) runs with the ball in overtime against the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Speaking of ’17, that’s not only the last time the Falcons were in the postseason, it also marks the team’s last winning campaign. Off a Super Bowl appearance (LI), the clubs earned a wild card berth in a season in which the New Orleans Saints won the NFC South and the Panthers were also a wild card team. Dan Quinn’s Falcons knocked off the NFC West champion Rams in the playoffs at Los Angeles, then fell to the eventual Super Bowl champions Eagles in the divisional round a week later at Philadelphia.

Hence, Hadley has new Falcons’ head coach Kevin Stefanski and his team unseating Carolina the NFC South, earning the fourth seed in the conference playoffs, and ironically facing Sean McVay’s Rams in the first round.

Of course, that’s nearly a year away. There’s the matter of free agency, the NFL draft, OTAs, as well as the 2026 preseason and regular-season. File this away for the future.

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