Most Iconic Game in Carolina Panthers History: An NFC Title Triumph

It's one thing when a National Football League team has unfinished business with another. What makes the story of the 2015 Carolina Panthers less common is that the Panthers went into the playoffs carrying a long-term grudge against a whole division. Teams of the National Football Conference West division had clobbered the Cats mercilessly in prior postseasons, eliminating Carolina four straight times. In January 2016, the team got its revenge.

Quarterback Cam Newton and the Panthers roared through the NFC playoffs following a franchise record 15-1 regular season. Both victims of Carolina's playoff wins hailed from none other than the NFC West. Carolina's 31-24 victory over Seattle in the NFC Divisional Round set up the Panthers to produce a history-making win in the NFC Championship Game and go back to the Super Bowl.

The Carolina Panthers have always been fast risers, going to the 1996 NFC Championship Game in only their second year of existence. Following the club's close-shave Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots in February 2004, the Panthers returned to the playoffs two years later in the 2005 season, defeating the New York Giants and Chicago Bears before losing to the Seattle Seahawks in another NFC championship tilt.

It was the 2008 campaign when Carolina getting eliminated by western teams became a theme. The Panthers went into an NFC Divisional Round playoff game against the Arizona Cardinals looking like a consensus favorite. However, the veteran Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner outperformed Carolina's quarterback Jake Delhomme in Carolina's embarrassing 33-13 loss to the Cardinals. Carolina would go on to lose to two more NFC West lineups in the postseason in the midst of the decade to follow, Seattle again in the 2013 season and the San Francisco 49ers in 2014.

The playoffs of the 2015 season would wind up pitting the Panthers against two more NFC West teams, bringing the team face-to-face with its cursed record against the division. Carolina snapped its losing streak against the NFC West with a 31-24 victory over Seattle in the NFC Divisional Round. That produced another chance for the Cats to return to the big dance. But they'd have to beat another old nemesis to do so.

Carolina was a betting favorite to trip the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 24, 2016. The Panthers had produced a tremendous 15-1 record in the regular season, building on their franchise record with a 16-1 overall record following the win over quarterback Russell Wilson and the defending NFL champion Seahawks. Panthers quarterback Cam Newton carried career-high numbers of 35 touchdown passes and a 99.4 passer rating from the regular season. Carolina was poised to become the first 17-1 team since the 1985 Chicago Bears.

Still, the NFL community-at-large remained skeptical of Newton and the Panthers, touting the opposing Cardinals' signal-caller Carson Palmer as the man who could take down Newton in the championship showdown. Arizona was building on a franchise record-breaking season of its own, with an overall record of 14-3. Carolina was criticized as untalented at wide receiver as compared to Larry Fitzgerald and the Cardinals.

Did anyone imagine how lopsided the first quarter would be? The Panthers took an early 10-0 lead on a 45-yard Graham Gano field goal and a 22-yard option run from running back Ted Ginn Jr. Newton broke the title game wide open later in the first frame by hitting one of Carolina's supposedly "untalented" wide receivers, Corey Brown, for a scintillating 86-yard catch-and-run touchdown that put Carolina ahead 17-0.

Arizona threatened to cut a 24-7 Carolina lead to 10 points going into the halftime break, but Carolina's wonderful defensive back Kurt Coleman snagged one of his two interceptions of the game to save the Panthers in the red zone. The defense would take center stage again soon after.

The Panthers built on their 17-point halftime lead by running away from the Cardinals in the second half. Cam Newton rushed for his second touchdown of the game on a 12-yard gallop to make the score 34-7 in favor of the Panthers with 2:08 left to go in the third quarter. While the Panthers offense was coldly efficient, the second half's foremost thrills came on behalf of a Carolina defense that did a number on Palmer, intercepting the former Cincinnati linchpin four times. Palmer was sacked by linemen Charles L. Johnson, Kawann Short, and Kyle Love.

Newton finished a career postseason day with four combined touchdowns and 335 passing yards with a supreme passer rating of 117.4 compared to Palmer's dismal 43.2. But it was linebacker Luke Kuechly who put the final exclamation point on Carolina's blowout victory, racing a 22-yard interception to the end zone with 5:11 left in the game to give Carolina a 49-15 statement win and a berth in Super Bowl 50.

The Panthers lost 24-10 to the Denver Broncos in a Super Bowl 50 contest that stands as the great American Football Conference quarterback Peyton Manning's swan song. Newton was criticized for acting despondent and keeping to himself after the defeat, but the fiery signal-caller returned to have more great seasons for the Panthers, leading the franchise to another playoff bid and an 11-6 overall record in 2017.

The Cardinals were not as inspired in the years to follow. Palmer had long since moved on when the Big Red had its next winning season in 2021. In fact, as of November 2025, the Arizona Cardinals are without a single playoff win since losing to Carolina in the 2015 NFC title game.