The Ringer ran an interesting article about the five types of NFL title windows and I was surprised by what it revealed about how competitive - er, uncompetitive - Super Bowl oddsmakers have viewed the Panthers to be since 2000. The upshot of the article is that every year only a small number of teams are true Super Bowl contenders and they are usually identifiable in the preseason. Based on preseason Super Bowl odds, 15 of the past 20 Super Bowl winners were ranked among the Top 10 in the preseason, and only one team in the past 20 years has won the Super Bowl beginning the season ranked outside the Top 15 (Patriots, 2001) .
Oddsmakers have consistently undervalued the Panthers going back to 2000
