Panthers can still make the playoffs

I wouldn't say that I am a huge fan of the NFL or even the Panthers but I do enjoy a game and depending on what day of the week it falls on, I might even watch it intently.

The beginning of the Carolina Panther season was just terrible and for those of us that follow them there was a collective sigh of "here we go again."

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When you get past the halfway point of the season and your record is 2-7, you don't really have much to look forward to as far as the rest of the year is concerned. Thankfully for the Panthers, everyone else in their division appears to be terrible as well. There's only 4 teams in the NFC South and they are Carolina, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, and Atlanta. NOT A SINGLE one of these teams has a winning record at this point in the season.

Tampa Bay is doing the best, or the least horrible would probably be a better way of explaining it. They have a record of 5 wins and 6 losses.

The funny thing about this season is because it has played out a lot like seasons in the past as far as the Panthers are concerned. As soon as their fan-base completely gives up and even stops watching, they start doing a lot better. They managed to win half of their games since starting off so terribly and as remarkable as it sounds, they actually can still clinch a playoff berth if this trend continues for the next few weeks.

Of course it isn't just a situation where we need the Panthers to do exceptionally well, we also need Atlanta and Tampa Bay to do poorly.

I'm at a point now where I don't even care because let's say that Carolina pulls off the improbable and ends up finishing the season atop the NFC South. They are almost certainly going to get absolutely destroyed in the first round of the playoffs anyway. I think it might be a better idea for them to take the rest of the season easy, take the losses and just keep the injury-level down. If they lose one more game, that is pretty likely what we are going to see happen and honestly, I wouldn't care.

I don't really see the point in making the playoffs if you are only going to get unceremoniously annihilated in the first round.