Halfway through the 2018 season, the 6-2 Carolina Panthers looked like a sure-fire playoff team and perhaps a squad that could compete with the New Orleans Saints for the NFC South title. Two games between the two teams in the final 14 days of the season seemed like a tantalizing finish to the year in that division.
Fast-forward to today and the Panthers are losers of five straight games, sitting at 6-7 and on the verge of nixing their playoff hopes entirely. Suddenly, they need a win over the Saints at home to just keep any realistic playoff hopes alive.