Major Losing Streak in Middle of Season Wrongly Predicted for Panthers

It’s a traditional exercise that really cranks up once the National Football League releases its weekly schedule. Some get an even earlier start once a team’s opponents for the upcoming season are revealed after the final results of the previous season.

But let’s be serious. How on Earth can you look at an NFL team’s slate of games and predict wins and losses weeks of even months in advance? A club’s strength of schedule is based on the combined winning percentage of it 17 opponents from the previous season. Of course, a team that is bad one year can be much-improved while a playoff participant the previous season can suddenly fall apart.

The 2025 NFL season proved to be highly unpredictable

Panthers at Saints — IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Just a reminder. There were seven new division winners in 2025, with the NFC East champion Philadelphia Eagles the lone team to repeat. The New England Patriots went from 4-13 in ’24 to 14–3 a year ago, capturing the AFC East on the way to an appearance in Super Bowl LX. Meanwhile, the Chicago Bears won the NFC North and the San Francisco 49ers were a wild card team in 2025—both finishing dead last in their respective division the previous season.

This week, Moe Moton of Bleacher Report came out with his predictions for the upcoming season. He has the improving New Orleans Saints capturing the NFC South with an 8-9 record. As for the reigning NFC South champion Carolina Panthers, the forecast for Dave Canales’s squad, the pick is a third-place finish with a 7-10 record. That would mean a ninth consecutive losing campaign for the franchise.

Dave Canales’s Panthers could be in for a rough 2026 campaign

Bryce Young — IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It’s safe to say that Moton isn’t overly high on the Panthers chances in 2026. He mentions the team’s 1-3 finish a year ago (after a 7-6 start), and doesn’t appear to have a lot of faith in quarterback Bryce Young. He summed up his forecast mentioning a four-game stretch in the middle of the season. “Between Weeks 8 and 11 against the Green Bay Packers (on short rest),” said Moton, “Denver Broncos, Saints and Baltimore Ravens, this team will fall apart on a losing streak.”

If there was one thing that stood out about the Panthers this past season, Canales’s team was marked by inconsistency. The club dropped its first two games and got off to a 1-3 start before stringing together three straight wins to get above the .500 mark.

Carolina Panthers were wildly inconsistent this past season

Ryan Fitzgerald with a 49-yard game winner against the Packers! pic.twitter.com/B94AenuXeo
— Logan B. Robinson (@LogansTwitty) November 2, 2025

A Week 7 road victory over the Jets was the start of a 10-game stretch that saw the team alternate wins and losses. One of those victories was a last-second 16-13 triumph over the Packers at Lambeau Field in Week 9. Another win over that stretch was a 31-28 surprise of the Los Angeles Rams at Charlotte in Week 13. Then again, two of their five setbacks over that span were to Kellen Moore’s last-place Saints.

Admittedly, it’s been a rough summer to date for Canales’s club with edge rusher Nic Scourton and rookie wideout Chris Brazzell II out for the season, and veteran right tackle Taylor Moton (blood clots) on the shelf for now.

However, this was a team that showed a resiliency this past season, and it’s hard to fathom that the team—with four of its final five games at home and three of its final seven contests vs. divisional rivals—will go away quietly.

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