this game was phoned in, happens.
We all know that Colt McCoy isn't a starter. Panthers needed to win to stay relevant for the playoffs, if they lose it was already over for them. Because from the 3 wildcard, one is for Rams or Cards, Saints or Bucs.
So basically the team that wants the 7th seed has to win at least 11 (more than Seattle, Vikings, 49ers, Falcons, Eagles, Bears and at least 1 of them will achieve 10 wins) they knew that and went all out.
The Panthers knew they had a big chance, we are missing 10 or 11 starters at the moment, yes the pundits don't talk about it, while everybody talked about Rodgers missing 3 WR ... gosh. We miss 2 OL, 1 QB, 1 WR, 1 RB and 1 TE and that is just the O 6 out of 11 starters. 1 on ST and 4 starters on D. At some point it is too much to overcome if the opponent plays with his back against the wall.
This wasn't a trap game, this was a very likely lost game. I knew when Kyler went down, that if we go 2-1 in that 3 game stretch we are great, 1-2 is not optimal but okayish, but going 0-3 would be bad. We are 1-1, with Kyler we can go 2-1 without him, and Steevler starting, I don't know if Kliff can build an O around Steevler, Kyler would pick the Seachickens appart on a normal day. We have to hope he has one on field comes gametime.