Heading into Week 7, the Carolina Panthers are in the driver's seat in the NFC South. The 1-5 Tampa Bay Buccaneers are struggling, the 2-4 New Orleans Saints aren't far ahead of them and the 2-4 Atlanta Falcons have the second-toughest schedule remaining in the entire league.
A lot can happen in 11 weeks. But right now, it appears that the Panthers are on track to once again win their division—setting up another a home game in the wild-card round of the playoffs.
According to the latest projections from John Breech at CBS Sports, they'd face their old conference rivals—the Seattle Seahawks . . . and lose by one point. Breech writes:
The wildest game of the wild-card round happens in Carolina with the Seahawks pulling off a one-point win over the Panthers.
A win here would allow Sam Darnold to get some revenge on his old team (he spent two seasons in Carolina and started 17 games for the Panthers).
The Seahawks beat the Panthers pretty handily late in the regular season last year on their way to a Super Bowl victory. While their defense remains elite, at the moment, Seattle (3-3) looks nowhere near as dangerous as they did in 2025.
The biggest reason is a poor decision in maintaining their roster. General manager John Schneider allowed a few of their important pending free agents to walk, including Super Bowl MVP running back Kenneth Walker III. Their loss has been the gain of the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs, as Walker leads the NFL in rushing yards per game by a comfortable margin.
Meanwhile, the Seahawks' run game has fallen apart. This has had a massive negative effect on quarterback Sam Darnold, who can't operate effectively without a real rushing threat on the field. Darnold has thrown seven interceptions in four starts and, thus far, has been outplayed by backup Drew Lock—who led the Seahawks to two wins while Darnold was sidelined with a glute injury.
Unless the Seahawks find a solution to their problems on offense, it's tough to see them making the playoffs at all. And if they do, and face the Panthers, 2026 may be a different story than 2025.
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This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: Panthers projected to face old NFC nemesis in wild card round
