The 2025 season has come down to the wire for the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
With a win or tie, the Panthers will be crowned NFC South champions, clinching the No. 4 seed and a home playoff game in the wild-card round. It would mark their first division title since the 2015 season, when Carolina went all the way to Super Bowl 50 with Cam Newton at quarterback, eventually losing to the Denver Broncos.
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Carolina (8-8) has lost two of its last three since its bye week in Week 14. They had an opportunity to clinch the division last week and failed miserably, losing to Seattle, 27-10. Now the Panthers need to win or tie on the road to punch that postseason ticket; otherwise, their path to the playoffs looks a lot murkier. The Panthers took the first matchup just a couple of weeks ago between these rivals, 23-20 in Charlotte.
Tampa Bay has been free-falling in the second half of the season and has won just one game since its Week 9 bye. Despite the implosion, the Buccaneers can still win the NFC South and make the playoffs as the No. 4 seed, but they’ll need a little help. The Bucs need to beat the Panthers, but also need the Atlanta Falcons to lose to the New Orleans Saints in Week 18.
Panthers-Bucs start time: 4:30 p.m. ET
Location: Raymond James Stadium | Tampa Bay, Florida
TV channel, live stream: ESPN, ABC, NFL+
Follow along with Yahoo Sports for live updates, highlights and more as the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers kick off the Saturday slate in Week 18.
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Kate Magdziuk
The Buccaneers will get a familiar face back on the defensive line this week, having activated Calijah Kancey off injured reserve to play in his first game since September.
Kancey spent 15 weeks on the injured reserve list with a pectoral injury he suffered in Week 2. Health has been a limiting factor for Kancey so far in his career, having played in just 28 of 50 regular-season games leading into Week 18.
The 2023 first-round pick was coming off a 7.5-sack season in his sophomore campaign, achieving the feat in just 12 games played. He’s also had 10-plus tackles for loss in each of his first two NFL seasons.
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Tarohn Finley
Tampa Bay Buccaneers left tackle will play in Saturday’s must-win game against the Carolina Panthers, according to the team’s inactive report. Wirfs missed Week 17’s game against the Miami Dolphins and was limited in practice this week with a turf toe injury.
Wirfs also missed games this season with an oblique and a knee injury.
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Kate Magdziuk
Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield started the year looking like an MVP, averaging 244 passing yards per game with 16 touchdowns and just two interceptions thrown through the first nine weeks of the season.
Things have gone downhill quickly in the back half of the year, however. Since coming out of their Week 9 bye, Mayfield & Co. have gone 1-6, as Mayfield’s averaged just 185.74 pass yards per game with nine touchdowns and eight interceptions in that seven-game span.
His yards per attempt average has dropped from 7.0 to 6.2 in that span, with his NFL passer rating dropping from 99.0 to 77.0.
Notably, Mayfield did suffer a shoulder injury in Week 12’s loss to the LA Rams, and he has not looked quite right since, though prior to this week, he’d been officially off the injury report since Week 16.
This week, Mayfield was listed with a right shoulder injury — in his throwing arm — after his previous left shoulder issue, as well as an undisclosed knee injury. After being estimated as a limited participant for Tuesday’s walkthrough, Mayfield was upgraded to full for Wednesday and Thursday’s practices.
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Kate Magdziuk
With less than 90 minutes remaining until the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers kick off on Saturday, each team has announced its Week 18 inactives for gameday.
Here’s a look:
Panthers inactives
Buccaneers inactives
