CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Carolina Panthers found another new way to make their season a disaster with a second consecutive shutout loss to the division-winning Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Panthers had fumbles that would have been touchdowns, scores wiped away by penalties, a missed field goal, and a lot of punts to close out a truly torrid season.
Tampa Bay was led by Baker Mayfield, the quarterback who was traded for by the Panthers in 2022 to lead the team before being let go later in the year. The Buccaneers' win secures their third NFC South title in a row.
All the Buccaneers needed were three Chase McLaughlin field goals to earn the 9-0 win. The Panthers are the first team since the 2008 Cleveland Browns to be shut out in consecutive games. Those Browns coincidentally also did it in the final two games of the season.
It's not as if the Panthers were completely inept on Sunday, though. The football gods were just completely against Carolina.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Panthers worked their way into Tampa Bay territory when Bryce Young made a great play under pressure to find D.J. Chark, who sprinted 43 yards to the end zone for what was first ruled a touchdown. Upon further review, though, Chark fumbled the ball as he lunged for the score. The ball was recovered by the Buccaneers, negating a score.
Matthew Wright, subbing for injured kicker Eddy Piñeiro, missed a field goal earlier in the third quarter to leave Carolina without any points.
Carolina's final opportunity at a score came on a 28-yard rushing touchdown by Raheem Blackshear that was called back for an illegal formation penalty that had little to no effect on the play. Young fumbled while being sacked on the very next play to end the Panthers' hopes.
Young had just 94 yards passing in the loss. He was sacked three times but did not throw an interception. Chuba Hubbard led Carolina on the ground with 83 yards rushing.
Mayfield completed 20 of 37 passes for 137 yards.
Carolina's defense held Tampa Bay to just 228 yards on the day. Derrick Brown, one of the Panthers' few bright spots, broke an NFL record for most tackles in a season by a defensive lineman, finishing with 103 tackles on the year.
The Panthers finish the year with the NFL's worst record but will not have the No. 1 overall pick in 2024 because of a trade in the 2023 draft to acquire Young.
Carolina's next efforts will be to find a new head coach to lead the team. Whoever it is will be the seventh coach of the Panthers since David Tepper took over the team in 2018.