With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers losing to the Miami Dolphins, a victory for the Carolina Panthers in Week 17 against the Seattle Seahawks would have clinched their first NFC South championship for a decade. Unfortunately, they never looked capable of toppling another Super Bowl hopeful.
And this served as a brutal reality check for head coach Dave Canales, who was completely outclassed and outthought by Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald.
This is not the first time Canales has come up short this season. The Panthers have been up and down, alternating wins and losses each week in the second half of 2025. Finding consistency is proving challenging, and it was clear from a long way out that Macdonald had his number in this one.
Carolina Panthers were not on the same level as the Seahawks in Week 17
The Panthers' offense was overwhelmed by Seattle's formidable defense from start to finish. Bryce Young never had a chance to get into any rhythm, and the turnovers from the signal-caller and running back Chuba Hubbard proved costly. Carolina's defense did what it could, but it was left rueing critical errors and lapses in concentration in key moments.
Macdonald was always two steps ahead of Canales. The coach can do nothing about his players' execution — or lack thereof — but there weren't many schematic adjustments throughout the clash when things clearly weren't clicking. Everything was a little too conservative, and Seattle could see what was coming from a mile away.
The result was a foregone conclusion by the third quarter, in all honesty. Canales carries the can, but he'll no doubt be frustrated by some of his key men not turning up in their typical manner. Whether that would have changed much versus an NFL powerhouse is highly doubtful, so the primary objective now is to shake off this terrible outing before their winner-take-all clash at the Buccaneers in Week 18.
If there's one positive for the Panthers, it's that they always win after losing. If this same trend continues, Carolina will clinch the division at Raymond James Stadium, and all is clearly not well in Tampa Bay. Hope still burns brightly, but there is a steep class difference on the field and, from a planning standpoint, between these two franchises.
That's unfortunate, but it's not the end of the world. What comes next is the most important thing, and Canales has to have his troops ready to hit the ground running.
Nothing else will do.