CHARLOTTE — For a team whose season ended in the final 38 seconds of a playoff game, the Panthers were not a dejected bunch Saturday night.

If anything, losing 34-31 to the Rams in the playoffs seemed to validate a lot of the things they came to think about themselves over the course of the 8-9 regular season, which saw them win a division title and play their first home playoff game in a decade.

"Classic fashion, the boys just kept battling," Panthers head coach Dave Canales said in the moments after the loss.

It was an unusual place to begin, considering the stakes. They had a chance to potentially host a second playoff game with a win, but that might have been asking too much — especially considering they lost left tackle Ikem Ekwonu to a significant knee injury, and cornerback Jaycee Horn to his second concussion in the last two months.

But leaving this way was still unusual, because the usual emotions of the end of the season are tears, and the Panthers left with a more resolute bearing.

"There's such a mix of emotions in the locker room right now, of guys who are proud of what we've accomplished and proud of what we've gotten to and sick about the missed opportunity that was right in front of us, and that's going to sting," Canales said. "That's going to sting for a good while, but I asked the guys to keep their heads up and let this fuel you for what we're going into and to understand how hard it is to work to get into this position where you get this kind of opportunity.

"It's just about belief, that's what this season has been about. Do you believe that you belong in these games? Do you believe that you can beat anybody if we do our job, if we play football the right way, and we make the right calls and all that? It's my job as the head coach to prove to these guys that if we handle business, we take care of the ball, and we play great football, we can play with anybody, and that belief is here. And the guys understand that part of it, and that's a big part about why this one stings."

But again, this one was complex, because they were so close to doing something barely precedented.

Only four other teams had made the playoffs with sub-.500 records, and two of them won their playoff openers (including the 2014 Panthers and Canales' 2010 Seahawks). So being that close to doing something special left them feeling conflicted.

At the same time, they came back from a two-touchdown deficit, to push the Rams to the final minute, requiring a Matt Stafford miracle to win.

"Obviously, not a great feeling at all, you don't want the season to come to an end," quarterback Bryce Young. "Special group of guys in that locker room, and it's a tough one, but I'm super grateful. I wouldn't have wanted to have this year with any other group.

"I'm super excited for the future, but that'll come. Again, it's fresh. It's not a great feeling, but I couldn't be prouder of these guys."

Much of that belief comes from the progress they made on offense, as Young, rookie TMac, and Jalen Coker had the same kind of late-season surge that Young had last year with an older group of players.

And because this team's built on a younger platform, the feeling can be different, because there is a future to consider.

"We definitely showed the world, showed the city of Charlotte that we're here to compete," McMillan said. "We want to win games, and we want what's best for this organization and what's best for the city, and unfortunately, we were unable to get it done tonight, but I feel like if you turn on the tape, you can definitely see that everyone was trying their heart out. We left it all on the field, and we gave it everything."

Of course, because of the way the Panthers made the playoffs this year — the beneficiaries of a three-way tie that only the NFC South can deliver to the world — there will still be doubters.

"The first game next year we'll probably be underdogs. The second game will be underdogs. So it's what it is," guard Robert Hunt said. "And then you know we just got to keep working. I think we did a lot of really good things.

"This is only Year 2 of the program, and we had a playoff game here, and we took, I think, a really, really good team who I think can go win the Super Bowl to the end of the game, and you know we just fell short."

But this is also a team that came back from its own 1-3 start, and that's where defensive captain and spiritual leader Derrick Brown went back to in the moments after this loss. When they were reeling after a 42-13 loss to the Patriots, they turned around to win three straight, creating a sense that something real was happening here.

And when they lost, they'd proceed to immediately follow with a win, alternating long enough to put themselves in position for the division title. That included beating the Packers on the road, the Rams here, and the four-time division champion Bucs in Week 16.

"That was where the team kind of found itself, I feel like," Brown said, going all the way back to New England. "This is a tough, tough business, and you're going against the best every single week. So man, I'm just so proud of our team for, you know, just showing the will to fight, bouncing back after losses, going out and beating teams that we weren't that we were said that we weren't supposed to beat.

"So I mean, man, I'm thankful for this team, thankful for this opportunity, you know, that's all I can say."

But Brown's also one of the leaders here, so he also knows that they can't be too happy with Saturday night, because now it's over, and it starts fresh for the 2026 season. They improved from 32nd in all defensive categories to 16th this year, but they know that's where much of the work needs to be done.

As Young often says, "we aren't entitled to anything," so Brown began to emphasize the work that had to come, so the Panthers could get back to this place.

"We want the message to be, man, this is the standard now," Brown said. "We want to play playoff football here. We want the Bank to be sold out every weekend, and you know we got to give them a show if that's what we want."

As for their expectations? For Brown, now that they've had this taste of it, the answer was simple.

"S---, Brown said. "Hopefully the playoffs again.

"Everybody's still hungry, right?"