'This is it': After Sunday's loss, Panthers still have one last chance at Tampa Bay

So it all comes down to this:

One game.

One playoff berth.

One final chance for the Carolina Panthers.

The Panthers (8-8) were whipped 27-10 Sunday by the Seattle Seahawks (13-3), who looked every bit the part of the NFC’s No. 1 playoff team during their commanding second-half performance at Bank of America Stadium.

That Panthers loss sets up a winner-take-all game for Carolina at Tampa Bay this coming weekend in Tampa — with the victor almost certainly taking not only the NFC South, but also earning a home playoff game on wild-card weekend (Jan. 10-12).

“We get to start the playoffs a week early,” Panthers quarterback Bryce Young said, trying to put the best face on Sunday’s disappointment.

Said Panthers nose tackle Derrick Brown: “You got to go get it. ... We got an opportunity in Tampa — that’s the gate to go where we want to go.”

There is one caveat to this winner-take-all situation.

For Carolina, it’s simple: Win and in.

For Tampa Bay (7-9), it’s a little more complicated. If Atlanta (6-9) wins out — upsetting the 11-4 L.A. Rams on Monday night and then the New Orleans Saints on Jan. 4 — and the Bucs also beat Carolina, that creates a three-way tie at the top of the NFC South at 8-9.

In this three-way tie scenario, Carolina wins the tiebreaker and would be able to back into the postseason anyway. That option goes away if the Rams beat the Falcons on Monday night, which they are favored by 7.5 points to do.

In the meantime, Carolina botched an opportunity against Seattle to clinch the South on Sunday, because Tampa Bay (7-9) was busy floundering its way to a loss against Miami. Panthers coach Dave Canales purposely kept the Tampa Bay-Miami game score off the scoreboards in the stadium so it wouldn’t distract his sideline — not that it kept thousands of fans from checking their phones and cheering on the Dolphins.

Carolina needed a win Sunday, plus a Tampa Bay loss, to clinch. The Bucs came through but not the Panthers, because Seattle’s defense was a brick wall, holding Bryce Young and the Carolina offense to a combined 139 yards.

Young had only 54 yards passing — a career low for games he has started. The last time he threw for a number like that in a start was Week 2 in 2024, when he had 84 yards and promptly got benched.

But a lot of this wasn’t Young’s fault. Who was he going to throw it to? Not a single Panthers receiver on the field could beat Seattle’s primarily man-to-man coverage. The blocking was poor, too.

The Panthers’ wideouts barely showed up. Tetairoa McMillan, gutting it out through an illness, had only one catch for five yards. Jalen Coker had two catches for 16 yards. In all, Carolina’s three top receivers had four catches for 24 yards. And Xavier Legette’s most notable moment was lining up offsides on a critical fourth-down play.

Canales noted of Legette that the official “tried to warn him,” but that Legette didn’t check with the official to make sure as receivers are allowed to do. (McMillan dropped a difficult one-handed catch attempt on the play anyway.)

Legette’s error was just one of many mistakes the Panthers made on offense Sunday, and they needed to play a near-perfect game to beat a Seattle team that might be the NFL’s most talented. Carolina’s defense did its part, turning former Panther Sam Darnold over twice (a Mike Jackson interception, a Nic Scourton strip-sack) and also stopping Darnold short on a fourth-and-1 sneak. Canales said the defense played “an amazing game,” repeatedly giving the offense opportunities that “we didn’t do anything with.”

After a 3-3 tie at halftime, Seattle blew the game open by scoring two third-quarter touchdowns on short fields following a Chuba Hubbard fumble and a Young interception.

Carolina’s lone Pro Bowler, cornerback Jaycee Horn, also didn’t help the cause Sunday: He dropped a first-quarter interception and then grabbed the facemask of a Seattle receiver to allow the Seahawks to convert a third-and-20.

Let’s think about this for a moment. Carolina actually will have three good chances to win the NFC South by the end of Week 18:

1) The Panthers had their first chance to win the NFC South by beating New Orleans and then Tampa Bay in back-to-back weeks, but lost to the Saints.

2) The Panthers had their second chance to win it Sunday and got the Bucs’ loss they needed, but lost to the Seahawks.

3) The Panthers’ third and final chance comes this weekend and honestly, if they don’t beat the reeling Bucs (1-7 in their past eight games), they don’t deserve to make the playoffs. Three strikes and you’re out.

And you should be out.

“We’ve got to get over the fact we missed an opportunity,” Canales said. “But our focus has to go to the next one, really quickly.”

“This is it,” Panthers offensive lineman Austin Corbett said. “You want to keep playing in the postseason? Everything you dreamed of as a little kid — go chase that ring. This is your moment.”

In their past 10 games, the Panthers have gone 5-5, and the way they’ve done that has been metronomically impressive: Win-loss-win-loss-win-loss-win-loss-win-loss.

That would seem to mean one more win this weekend, right?

And if not, the Panthers don’t deserve to be in the playoffs anyway.