How do you write the epitaph for the team that couldn't die?
How to reconcile a team of destiny with its new reality: A team, defeated. A dream, deferred. A tidal stream, dammed.
Here lie the Panthers, a team that transcended football sense and sensibility. That entered the season as weakened as Kelvin Benjamin's knee. That entered midseason on the precipice, surely, of the clock striking midnight and ending their Cinderella run. That entered the Super Bowl as heavy favorites, Cam Newton a king already handed his crown; Carolina a kingpin of a culture shift in football.