Carolina Panthers Given No Shot at 2026 Contention for Absolutely Foolish Reason

The Carolina Panther s won't win Super Bowl 60. One of the New England Patriots or Seattle Seahawks will. The Panthers could, in theory, win Super Bowl 61, though. They figure to be a strong contender to make the playoffs once again.

They were 8-9 and had a seriously negative point differential in 2025, though, so it will take a lot to get to that level in one offseason. One insider deemed them the least likely champion out of the 12 eliminated playoff teams.

That in and of itself is not necessarily wrong, because the Panthers are starting from a worse place than the rest. But the logic for why they'll not only miss out on the title but struggle in general is foolish.

Panthers given worst chance to avenge 2025 playoff loss with title

Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) runs in past Seattle Seahawks safety Ty Okada (39) for a score | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

So far, everyone but the Patriots and Seahawks has fallen short of the Super Bowl. They will all be trying to get there next year, especially those who made the playoffs and fell short.

That includes the Panthers, who snuck in as a mediocre team but gave the Los Angeles Rams an intense battle. Still, the future's not so bright, according to CBS Sports analyst Bryan DeArdo.

"One of the NFL's feel-good stories in 2025, it's safe to say that the Panthers will be hard-pressed to have similar success in 2026. For staters, they'll face a significantly tougher schedule next year that includes a half-dozen teams that made the playoffs a year ago," he wrote.

The schedule is going to get harder in 2026. There are a lot of pretty good teams on the docket, but the Panthers should also continue improving. Additionally, the Panthers made the playoffs despite facing seven playoff teams (and both Super Bowl teams) in 2025.

They had what turned out to be a very difficult schedule despite the third-place finish in 2024, so schedule difficulty is not the best reason to write the Panthers off already.

Carolina's success next year will largely depend on whether or not Bryce Young can take another leap this offseason," DeArdo continued. "The Panthers could aid Young's development by getting him a wideout who can complement Tetairoa McMillan, whose 1,014 receiving yards last season was 620 more than Carolina's next leading receiver, Jalen Coker."

This is true. The Panthers can and probably will continue to help Young get better and give him more weapons. That should help the Panthers move forward. Remember, they were in year two of an organizational overhaul, and they still made the playoffs.

They may not be the most likely champion of the other 2025 playoff teams, but they can't be written off already on the basis of a harder schedule.