NEW ORLEANS — It's never easy here.
And it wasn't again.
The fact that they still have a chance to play for the division title in the next three weeks will offer little consolation in the short term.
The Panthers fell 20-17 to the Saints on Sunday in Caesars Superdome, dropping to 7-7 on the season.
The good news is they're tied with the Buccaneers with three weeks left and two games against them, meaning it'll be decided on the field beginning next week at Bank of America Stadium.
But the way this one got away from the Panthers will haunt them.
They led 17-7 midway through the third quarter, before Saints quarterback Tyler Shough led a comeback of his own.
After he hit Chris Olave for a 12-yard touchdown with 2:29 left in the game, the Saints' defense stopped Bryce Young and gave him another chance.
And he drove them for the game-winning field goal by international kicker Charlie Smyth, whose 47-yarder with 0:02 left gave the Saints the winning margin.
Shough set it up by offering himself up, running up the middle and into an unnecessary roughness penalty on rookie safety Lathan Ransom, buying Smyth an extra 15 yards. That one was the last of a season-high 11 penalties for 103 yards for the Panthers, and the most painful.
That spoiled a day that began so promising for the Panthers, with Bryce Young throwing it downfield in a way he hadn't in the first meeting, and running it enough to maintain some kind of pace.
But the defensive lapses late will haunt them, at least until they move onto a future that includes three games with playoff implications.
Check out some of the best shots from the Panthers' Week 15 game against the Saints.
