CHARLOTTE — Start spreading the news! The Panthers are officially playoff bound for the first time since the 2017 season, and are NFC South division champions for the first time since 2015.

It took until the last possible division game to decide a winner; the Panthers, at 8-9, had to find out their fate based on the winner of the Falcons and Saints matchup on Sunday. But the Atlanta win created a three-way tie that Carolina won over the Falcons and Buccaneers.

"We got another week," said coach Dave Canales on Sunday, after the Panthers were crowned NFC South champions.

"We get to hang around with each other. We love working together, we love being on the grass, that type of an environment, and that was my message last week, guys, like, let's go get this win so we can do this again another week. We're having way too much fun. And we didn't get that done yesterday, but here we are with everything in front of us, and everybody's record is obsolete now.

"It's all 1-and-0, and we got the 1-and-0 mentality with a chance for a championship, and here we are."

Plenty of Panthers coaches, players, legends, and fans were watching Sunday's Falcons' game closely, and celebrated accordingly on social media when it was over and the Panthers knew they were heading to the postseason. We've collected some of the best of those social moments to celebrate.

The Panthers will host a wild card game this weekend against the Los Angeles Rams. A day and time are to be determined.

The Panthers needed the Falcons to win on Sunday for Carolina to be division champions. If the Saints had won, the Buccaneers would have represented the division in the playoffs. The three-way tie broke Carolina's way due to a couple of reasons, but namely because of a series sweep over Atlanta this season, as well as Week 16 win over Tampa Bay, giving Carolina more common opponent wins.

Since players and coaches weren't at the stadium when the Falcons and Saints game was being played, Sir Purr was the first official Panther to display the NFC South champions hat.

Former NFL receiver and longtime Cincinatti Bengals player, Chad Johnson, has become an outspoken Panthers fan this season. He credits it largely to being fascinated with the Panthers wide receiving corps.

Former players, some who were a part of the Panthers last playoff run, sounded off their excitement and congratulations as well.

Carolina will face the Los Angeles Rams in the wild card game this weekend. Stay tuned to Panthers.com for an announcement of time and date, as well as full coverage previews.