Carolina Panthers aren’t the only team that made the playoffs with a losing record, here’s how the others faired 

It’s wasn’t exactly a conventional ending to the season for the Carolina Panthers, but they are in the playoffs after winning the NFC South and looking to make history after finishing the the regular season below .500.

Panthers playoff bound

The Panthers path to the playoffs wasn’t pretty, nor was is convincing but they are in, and to top things off, they have home field advantage at least for the first round of the postseason. That’s what happens when you win your division and that’s what the Panthers did, despite losing their last two games and three of their last four.

Carolina had what looked to be a win and in Week 18 match up against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If the Panthers won, they were in but if they lost they would need some help from the Atlanta Falcons. They lost, but the Falcons did them a favor by beating the New Orleans Saints, and the Panthers stumbled their way into the postseason with an 8-9 record.

This is just the seventh time a team has made the postseason with a losing record. The first two times it happened came back in 1982 when the season was cut short do to a work stoppage. The Cleveland Browns and the Detroit Lions both made the playoffs with a 4-5 record. Both the Browns and the Lions were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round as the then Washington Redskins went on to win the Super Bowl that year.

Can Carolina make history?

The next time a team made the postseason with a losing record was in 2010 when the Seattle Seahawks won their division with a 7-9 record. Seattle earned a home game in the first round by winning the NFC West, beat the New Orleans Saints, but then lost to the Chicago Bears in the divisional round.

This isn’t the Panthers first go around with a losing record in the playoffs, they did it back in 2014 when they won the NFC South with a record of 7-8-1. They won the first round game at home against the Cardinals, but lost to the Seahawks in the next round.

Back in the COVID season of 2020 the Washington Commanders won their division with a record of 7-9. They would have a short-lived stint in the playoffs, getting knocked out in the first round against the eventual champions, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Those same Bucs were the last team to make the playoffs with a losing record in 2022 when they won the NFC South with an 8-9 record in the first year the NFL stretched the season to 17 games. They would lose to the Cowboys in the first round that year.

The Panthers have a tough road ahead if they are going to make history, but they do have the luxury of a first round game at home. They will take on the Los Angeles Rams who are one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl despite being a Wild Card.

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