3 winners and 3 losers from Panthers loss vs. the Vikings in Week 6

Carolina Panthers defensive performance

If you had told me in the first half that the Carolina Panthers defense would be a loser, I would have laughed. But Phil Snow’s unit was only able to keep the home team in the game for so long before they completely imploded.

Believe it or not, the defense allowed the Minnesota Vikings to gain 571 yards on offense, which is the second-most ever given up by a Panthers defense.

The Vikings averaged 6.8 yards per play and had nine plays over 20 yards, which is the most allowed by a Carolina defense since 2000.

When the defense was needed most to hold Minnesota to a field goal or no points at all in overtime, they failed, allowing Kirk Cousins to drive right down the field, Dalvin Cook to pick up a huge rush, and finally, the quarterback connected on a 27-yard score to wide receiver K.J. Osborn.

This Panthers defense is still good when they’re on, but they can only do so much. Hopefully, they’ll start getting healthy and benefit from the addition of Stephon Gilmore.

The All-Pro cornerback isn’t coming into the organization to lose. So if the Panthers cannot regain some of their early-season hype, Gilmore’s stay in Carolina might be a short-term arrangement.