It is understandable if Tampa Bay fans watched the Carolina Panthers defeat the Green Bay Packers a week ago and feel uneasy about their place in the division. The Panthers have been mostly incompetent since their Super Bowl run in 2015, having gone through a combination of nine quarterbacks that have not panned out the way they hoped.
However, this year, the Panthers have shown some progress. Their win over Green Bay put them above .500 at 5-4, before losing to the Saints last week. Carolina also dominated the Falcons, winning 30-0, while scoring 30 on Dallas and 27 on the Dolphins. Their offense has been impressive.
Still, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have nothing to worry about when it comes to the NFC South. Bryce Young is nowhere near the level of a quarterback that Baker Mayfield is, and Tampa Bay is better across the board defensively.
If the Panthers win divisional games against the Falcons in Week 11 and the Saints in Week 15, there is a good chance they enter their Week 16 showdown with the Buccaneers as a 7-7 football team. That means most likely, the Panthers will technically have a chance to win the division if they are able to sweep the Buccaneers in Weeks 16 and 18 to close out the season.
It's not going to happen, though, and Tampa Bay fans need not worry about any sort of chaos scenario that involves the Panthers winning the division, or even reaching the playoffs.
To be a playoff-contending team, competent quarterback play is necessary, and the Panthers simply do not have that most games. Young is mistake-prone, sloppy, and inconsistent.
If Tampa Bay enters Week 16 at 8-6, or even 9-5, the media will try to make a big deal of the Panthers-Bucs showdown as a game that will decide the division. Tampa Bay fans, don't fall for it. The Panthers are not a good team. They are as big of pretenders as any team has been.