It’s been a while since the last time the Carolina Panthers were considered a true NFL playoff contender.
The days of Cam Newton, Luke Kuechly and Christian McCaffrey are long gone, with Carolina failing to make the boat to the postseason in each of the last eight seasons. Since making an appearance at Super Bowl 50 in 2016, the Panthers reached the playoffs just once, and that was when they suffered a wild-card round loss at the hands of the New Orleans Saints in 2018.
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Carolina fans surely miss those days, and it still appears they are going to wait a little longer before the Panthers become a force again following a five-win season in 2024.
Adam Thielen loves the fire he’s seeing in Carolina Panthers
But another thing that fans might want to see more of is some feistiness among the players, just like back in the day with Newton and company.
Bryce Young showed some of that during practice when he talked some trash at cornerback Jaycee Horn.
“Guys are finally sick of being the same ol’ Carolina Panthers,” wide receiver Adam Thielen said (via David Newton of ESPN). “We want to get back to what they did here in the past, from ’15 and some of those other years where they made deep playoff runs, when they had the crowd involved and the city pumped up. That just shows guys are sick of the same ol’, same ol’.”
It’s all a work in progress for the Panthers, who have plenty to do to change people’s perception of them as a minnow in the NFC and in the NFC South, where they finished fourth and third in each of the last two seasons, respectively.
But at least, there appears to be a fire lit under the team going into the 2025 season.
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