The Carolina Panthers have not had a winning record in a season since David Tepper purchased the team in 2018.
On Saturday, they’ll host an opponent many picked to win the Super Bowl in a home playoff game.
Despite finishing with a losing record for the eighth year in a row, Carolina clinched the NFC South title and the playoff spot that comes with it via a three-way tiebreaker with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Atlanta Falcons.
The Panthers are the first team in NFL history to reach the playoffs with a losing record twice.
On the heels of an 8-9 season, Carolina opened +10.5 at FanDuel for Saturday’s Wild Card showdown against the Los Angeles Rams.
If that current number holds, the Panthers will be the largest home playoff underdog in NFL history.
Carolina is +460 to upset Los Angeles in their Wild Card.
The Rams are currently +440 to win the Super Bowl.
In an interesting twist, one of the Panthers’ eight wins this season came against the Rams back in Week 13.
Carolina beat LA 31-28 as a 10-point underdog.
Meanwhile, the Panthers registered an awful minus-69 point differential during the regular season.
That’s officially the fourth-worst point differential by any playoff team in NFL history.
Believe it or not, the three teams that made the playoffs with a worse point differential than Carolina went a combined 3-0 in the Wild Card round.
On top of that, the Panthers went 8-0 against the spread in games following an outright loss this season.
Carolina just lost to Tampa Bay in Week 18.
Could the Panthers upset the Rams in the Wild Card round as a +460 underdog at FanDuel?
At the very least, could they cover the spread as the biggest home playoff underdog in NFL history?
Nobody is buying the Panthers at 175-to-1 to win the Super Bowl, but they certainly have the potential to shake up the NFC playoff picture on Wild Card Weekend.
