CHARLOTTE — The Panthers are still a very young team, and they're a team that hadn't been to the playoffs in eight years, so not a lot of them had been a part of anything like Saturday night.

Then again, some of them have played in big games, like rookie safety Lathan Ransom, whose Ohio State team won a national championship last year in Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

"Last night was one of the best environments I've ever been in," Ransom said Sunday, as the Panthers cleaned out their lockers and embarked on the offseason following the 34-31 loss to the Rams. "That's the stuff you dream of being a part of.

"I mean, I think just seeing from what it was at the beginning of the year to what it was at the end, it's completely different. At the end, the last couple of games we had here were some of the best atmospheres I've ever played in, including Ohio State. So I'm excited to see what's to come next year, and we're excited to bring some exciting football back."

"I mean, it was rocking," rookie pass-rusher Nic Scourton said. "It was rocking when we went down 14-0, and nobody batted an eye, and everybody and the fans were still screaming excited. I mean, it kind of felt like I was back at (Texas) A&M."

Their enthusiasm might be chalked up to the inexperience of youth, but even the old people felt it.

Long snapper JJ Jansen, who is about to turn 40, has played in more games than any player in Panthers history (277 regular season, eight postseason), and had the same kind of reaction.

Whether it was seeing former teammate Cam Newton hitting the Keep Pounding drum before the game, or Jake Delhomme and Steve Smith joining Muhsin Muhammad and Wesley Walls at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Jansen could sense it.

This is a man who was on the field for the 2015 NFC Championship Game when the confetti fell, so he's seen some big events.

"The fans all in black, the lighting, Cam coming out banging the drum, from Jake and Smitty and Moose and Wesley there at the end, all the guys, and it was a great environment," Jansen said. "It was a great football game. Obviously, incredibly disappointed that it didn't come out our way at the end, but just a fantastic game, a fantastic environment, and you know we talked about it during the week, that this group needed to have the opportunity of playing playoff football and playing a home game and winning your division and all the perks that come with it. And despite coming on the losing end of it, that's a great feeling.

"Like they won't play in a game that's more electric than that maybe the rest of their career, so you get to pull on that the next time you go back to the playoffs, the next time you play in a big game. It doesn't get more exciting and energetic in a building. So it's a great thing for all of us in this room to have that feeling and know it's not going to get wilder or crazier than that. And so that's huge for us."

From every end of the spectrum, players were impressed with what they saw, heard, and felt.

Rookie wideout Tetairoa McMillan never played with Newton or Smith or Delhomme, much less Muhammad or Walls. And he hasn't experienced a non-playoff year here. But he could tell that it was an event.

"Man, Bank of America Stadium was definitely in that mode last night," McMillan said. "It was loud, filled to the brim. Obviously, the legends came through. It was hyping up the crowd, so I'm looking forward to playing that in that environment next year."

Of course, the team had a lot to do with that enthusiasm, having delivered the first division title since Jansen and friends won one in 2015.

"It was really the whole week," Panthers head coach Dave Canales replied when asked if he took a moment to appreciate the setting. "It was such a blessing to be in this position to play a wild card game at home, which comes from winning the division, which is the language that we use around here.

"You've got to win the first championship first, and we were able to win the division to get that home game to give us the advantage of being in Bank of America Stadium; it was a dream come true."

And that was evident as soon as they drove up to the stadium on Saturday morning or afternoon.

"The excitement started early in the day, for me," defensive tackle Derrick Brown said. "I mean, just driving into the city, there were a million people everywhere, so shout out to the fans for that.

"I hope that we can keep this place rolling and keep the Bank full. That has been the goal since I've been here, and to finally see it coming in, coming into its own, I mean, that was something special."

So for the young and old, it was a special moment.

But it hit especially deeply for the guys who survived the 2-15 team in 2023, who had to endure to get to this point, and were part of the reason it happened. For a guy like Austin Corbett, who is a free agent, it makes him hope to come back to continue to build. For the people who are part of the foundation, it creates the promise for something more — and the impetus to deliver again.

"Yeah, 100 percent, we take a lot of pride in that," quarterback Bryce Young said. "We're super, super grateful for the supporters, through everything, and to be able to be a part of a night like that, to be able to feel the energy, the electricity in the air for everyone to come out, support like they did, that means a lot to us.

"It means a lot to us, and it's on us to earn nights like that. As a leader, I take a lot of pride in that. We want to make sure that that's the standard moving forward."