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.