How bout those sad Panthers, winners of three straight after smothering Oakland 17-6 today.

Carolina moves to 6-9, tied with the Bucs for third place in the NFC South. New Orleans won in Dallas to move to 7-9, and with a tiebreaker edge on the Bucs, the Bucs have assured themselves a third-place or fourth-place finish.

In addition to likely saving Ron Rivera’s job this month, Carolina entered today’s game with the NFL’s 10th-ranked defense and probably went up a notch after Oakland only managed about 150 yards of offense.

Again, the NFC South has proven itself to be a very tough division top to bottom.

Nothing should get easier for the Bucs next season.