If the opening week of the NFL preseason is anything to go off of, it could be another long fall for fans of the Carolina Panthers, with the NFL cellar dwellers faceplanting their way through the team’s first exhibition of the season against the New England Patriots, 17-3.
It was a night that saw 2023 No. 1 pick Bryce Young on the sidelines the whole night, leading to a patchwork of Jack Plummer and Jake Luton taking snaps under center, with the pair completing 18/30 passes for 89 yards while getting upstaged by New England’s QB duo of No. 4 pick Drake Maye and veteran Bailey Zappe.
That opposing twosome threw for 127 yards on 14/23 passing, though Maye wasn’t around for much of it, with the former UNC Tar Heel completing two of his three pass attempts for 19 yards before giving way to Zappe.
In total, it was a night that served as a reminder of why oddsmakers at Bet365 North Carolina give the Panthers +550 odds of making the postseason in 2024, third longest of any franchise in the 32-team league.
With that in mind, BetCarolina.com took a look at the past five first preseason games (excluding 2020) to see how many times the Panthers came out victorious, and finding the average season win-loss percentage for Panthers teams that lost the first preseason game. Using Sports-Reference.com, between 2018-2023, the Panthers have won 60% of their first preseason games, but even then, those seasons only had a .340 win-loss percentage.
Panthers Preseason Projections
Preseason Game 1 Result | Season Win-Loss % |
Won | .340 |
Lost | .280 |
This data may not be available on North Carolina sportsbook apps, but it could prove useful before you place your Panthers bets this year.
How Have Panthers Fared After Opening Preseason Games Of Late?
Given the fact that Carolina has gone 24-59 (.289) since 2019, it’s likely of little surprise to learn that the franchise’s win percentages have been far from ideal regardless of how the Panthers have played in Week 1 of the NFL preseason.
That said, the Panthers have fared slightly better (.340 vs. .280) when they won their opening exhibition versus how they’ve fared after faceplanting the way they did in Foxborough this season.
Given how Carolina hasn’t made the postseason since 2017 when the Panthers capped off a stretch of four playoff berths in five years by going 11-5 and reaching the NFC Wild Card round, it’s a low bar to say a given stretch has been a “success” in Charlotte.
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