The Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers face off in a Week 18 matchup that’s largely do-or-die, however not precisely as a consequence of causes we’ll describe beneath. The NFC South has been a large number this yr, so it’s no shock that there’s an odd situation within the combine for the 2 groups competing for the division title.
The Panthers-Bucs matchup is going down in Tampa and can kick off at 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. It’s the primary sport of the ultimate week of the 2025-26 NFL common season, and it ought to be a enjoyable one. These two squads confronted off two weeks in the past and the Panthers gained on a game-winning subject objective with 2:20 left within the fourth quarter. That moved Carolina into first place, the place they’ve remained since.
The Bucs have misplaced 4 straight and 7 of their final eight video games whereas the Panthers have alternated wins and losses after a three-game win streak in October.
Panthers vs. Buccaneers playoff image
This isn’t fairly a loser-leaves-town matchup. If the Panthers win, they’re within the playoffs and the Bucs are achieved for the season. Carolina may have completed two video games up on Tampa Bay to win the division free and clear. Nonetheless, if the Bucs win, we gained’t know the division champion till Sunday afternoon.
If the Bucs win, they’ll be tied with the Panthers in first place. If the Atlanta Falcons lose to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, the Bucs win the division as a result of they declare the widespread video games tiebreaker over the Panthers. For a two-team tie, the primary tiebreaker is head-to-head, the second tiebreaker is divisional document, and the third tiebreaker is widespread video games. The Bucs and Panthers cut up the head-to-head collection and a Tampa win would even them on divisional document. Tampa has the widespread video games benefit.
If the Falcons beat the Saints on Sunday, the Panthers win the division due to the head-to-head tiebreaker. For a three-team tie, the primary tiebreaker is general head-to-head document for the three groups. On this occasion, the Panthers could be 3-1 (2-0 vs. Falcons, 1-1 vs. Bucs), the Bucs could be 2-2 (1-1 vs. Panthers, 1-1 vs. Falcons), and the Falcons could be 1-3 (1-1 vs. Bucs, 0-2 vs. Panthers). Carolina would declare the division due to that 3-1 general head-to-head document.
For these , the Falcons are a subject objective favourite at house in opposition to the Saints.
