Panthers Back in Playoff Hunt After Dismal Start

The Carolina Panthers were a joke two months ago, in danger of becoming the answer to a trivia question as the biggest bust following a Super Bowl season.

Don’t look now, but the Panthers are surging. They moved into the thick of the playoff race Sunday with a 20-7 victory over the St. Louis Rams.

Carolina (6-7) has won five straight and is tied with the Rams (6-7) for the final NFC wild-card berth, but owns the tiebreaker advantage.

“They had us for the buzzards, we were road kill,” linebacker Mark Fields said. “All of a sudden, we are coming back. With the character and the leadership of this team, there is no question about it -- this team has some resolve.”

Feeding off a defense that set a franchise record by intercepting six passes by Chris Chandler, the Panthers got touchdowns from Muhsin Muhammad and Nick Goings and two field goals from John Kasay in a rematch of January’s thrilling NFC divisional playoff.

But this one wasn’t nearly as dramatic as Carolina’s 29-23 win in double overtime, mainly because the teams are totally different than they were in January.

For starters, 10 of Carolina’s 22 regulars from that game are either no longer with the Panthers or out with injuries. St. Louis was without star running back Marshall Faulk, and started the 39-year-old Chandler at quarterback because Marc Bulger was hurt.

But the stakes were just as high, at least for Carolina.

“It’s a playoff game for us every time we go on the field,” cornerback Ricky Manning Jr. said. “This is it for us. The hole we put ourselves in, the only way out of it is to win every game and keep the season going.”

Manning took the first step, intercepting a Chandler pass on the Rams’ first series to set up Carolina’s first touchdown.

Dan Morgan, back from a three-game absence with a concussion, had two interceptions to join Manning for the team lead, and Will Witherspoon and rookie Chris Gamble each added a pick.

Morgan had no idea which of the six interceptions meant the most. “There were so many, I forgot all of them,” he said.

“I think [Chandler] got rattled early,” St. Louis Coach Mike Martz said. “I think any time you throw some picks in the game, as quarterback, it really is unsettling. At that point, he had a hard time recovering.”