The race is on.
The Carolina Panthers (9-4) find themselves in the thick of things as the complicated playoff chase unfolds within the NFC South.
The Panthers know their best shot at the postseason is winning their final three games. But aside from that, they don't have much control.
"I think we still have a lot of work cut out for us," said center Ryan Kalil. "I don't think we're anywhere near where we need to be, but we're in a good spot to keep making that push. And 9-4 is a great position to be, with the rest of the season still ahead of us.
"We have a couple of really good teams still left to play, but we have to keep working."
But as we mentioned, things are ... complicated.
"There's so many scenarios, so many tiebreakers," tight end Greg Olsen said. "With three games left, it's hard to really start rooting for people and predicting how things are going to end up at this point."
But that didn't stop the Observer from trying.
Here's a primer on the playoff situation for the Panthers.
