This isn’t the most shocking news you’ll hear today, but the Carolina Panthers will not be playing beyond their regular-season schedule.
Sunday afternoon’s 30-14 loss to the Dallas Cowboys pushed the Panthers back to 3-11 and officially eliminated them from playoff contention. Carolina will now go a seventh straight season without clinching a postseason berth, their longest such drought in franchise history.
Each of those seven seasons have come under the ownership of David Tepper, who acquired the organization in the summer of 2018. Since then, the Panthers have gone a combined 34-79—with six seasons of double-digit losses.
If the Denver Broncos (eight seasons) and the Atlanta Falcons (six seasons) capture a playoff berth later in the campaign, Carolina’s seven-year drought would become the second-longest active streak in the NFL. The Broncos began Week 15 in possession of the AFC’s seventh seed while the Falcons entered a game behind the NFC South-leading Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The longest current drought belongs to the New York Jets, who have missed the playoffs in 14 straight years.
