The Carolina Panthers are in a three-game, two-horse race for the NFC South championship. Only the Tampa Bay Buccaneers stand in their way, and they play them twice in Weeks 16 and 18. There is also a potentially pendulum-swinging moment in between to factor into the equation.
Carolina welcomes the Seattle Seahawks in the team's regular-season finale at Bank of America Stadium in Week 17. The Buccaneers travel to the Miami Dolphins, and their task just got a whole lot easier with a drastic but oddly inevitable switch by head coach Mike McDaniels.
With the Dolphins officially out of playoff contention after losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football, McDaniel used this as the perfect opportunity to bench quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
Carolina Panthers won't be expecting any favors from the Dolphins after Tua Tagovailoa benching
McDaniel confirmed the move on Wednesday. Rookie seventh-rounder and former high school phenom Quinn Ewers will get the start, with Zach Wilson moving into the backup role and Tagovailoa going to the emergency third option.
This is an incredible fall from grace for the No. 5 overall selection in the 2020 NFL Draft. Tagovailoa looked primed for a long, productive NFL career. After a promising start and a new contract, things unraveled quickly. Poor performances, serious concussion issues, indifferent comments in front of the media, and accusations of suspect leadership have all played a role in his demise. Ewers might not be much better, but Miami is now in evaluation mode.
The former Texas star was highly thought of once upon a time. Ewers entered his final college campaign as a borderline first-round pick, according to most experts, but things spiraled. But he made the Dolphins' roster and now has a chance to stake a claim for the starting gig long-term.
Tampa Bay isn't going to be shaking in fear about the prospect of going up against Ewers. It exponentially bolsters their hopes of a Week 17 win. But for the Panthers, nothing changes.
If they beat the Buccaneers twice, which has been a tall order in previous years, it won't matter what happens in Week 17. That is the objective everyone in the building is striving for, and it all starts this weekend during a game with the highest stakes possible attached.
Lose this one, and Week 18 will probably be a meaningless encounter, full of regret and thoughts of what might have been. Dave Canales' squad has proven capable of beating anyone when firing on all cylinders, but fans don't know what sort of performance they're going to get from one week to the next.
Hopefully, they will turn up this weekend. After all, the magnitude of finally reaching the postseason cannot be overstated.