Carolina Panthers Have a Chance to Mimic a Division Foe's Turnaround

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a forgettable 2009 season.

Led by a rookie quarterback, they did not post a win until midseason and entered Week 15 with a 1-12 record and among the league’s worst teams.

But somehow they turned it around in the final weeks to establish momentum going into the offseason.

They notched their second win of the season in Week 15 against the Seattle Seahawks, an NFC West opponent. The following week, they beat the New Orleans Saints, a legitimate Super Bowl contender, on the road, posting back-to-back wins for the first time that season.

They would go on to drop the final game of the season and finish the season 3-13, but after winning two of their last three, things were looking up in Tampa Bay.

Now, just one year later, they are in the thick of the playoff hunt and are wildly exceeding expectations.

The 2010 Carolina Panthers have an eerily similar opportunity.

Led by rookie quarterback Jimmy Clausen, the Panthers did not post their first win until midseason. They entered Week 15 still looking for their second win, and they got it against the Arizona Cardinals, an NFC West opponent.

Now, in Week 16, they travel to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers, a legitimate Super Bowl contender, on the road, for their second win in a row.

Common sense says it won’t happen. Las Vegas says no way. Steelers fans aren’t having it.

But the Buccaneers were down 17-0 in that 2009 contest on the road, and they defied all odds by winning it in overtime.

Perhaps it’s the Panthers’ turn to show the NFL that, despite being at the bottom of the league in a handful of categories, including wins, they’re not a laughingstock. They just hit a bad stretch.

It’s a rookie quarterback against the NFL’s best defense, but running back Jonathan Stewart has shown flashes of his old self in recent weeks, posting back-to-back 100-yard games and coming close to the 100-yard mark in the previous two.

The Panthers also have the eighth-ranked pass defense.

If the pass defense can hold up in the Pittsburgh cold and the Panthers can control the clock with the running game against a team prone to big upsets in recent years, we could see the Panthers do what the Buccaneers did a season ago.

Finish the season with some confidence.

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