The New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers are currently tied for first place in the NFC South, and their matchup Sunday will determine who will hold sole place of the division going into Week 11. The Panthers and Saints fighting it out for divisional supremacy felt like a real, and possibly most likely, scenario going into the season. We didn’t expect it to look like this, however.
The Saints and Panthers both showed life at the end of last season, so it was natural to expect some sort of growth in the 2026 campaign. So far, both teams have been inconsistent and are in this position because of the state of the division.
As much as we position the state of the division versus quality of team, someone has to win the division. The bar isn't high, but that also means every team has a chance to take advantage of the division's overall weakness. For the Saints, this is a must win game.
It’s a must win game for the Saints when you start to look ahead
A divisional game when you’re tied for first place speaks for itself. No one needs to be sold on the importance of this game.
In an isolated bubble, the game is important, but the stakes are primarily viewed through a lens of opportunity. It’s more reward than risk, because one loss won’t be catastrophic. The weight of a loss becomes apparent when looking at the next three games.
After playing the Panthers, the Saints go on the road to play the Bears and Bengals before returning home to play the Packers. That’s three real contenders in a row and there’s a real chance the Saints lose all three of those games. Honestly, that’s the most likely scenario.
We’re talking about a potential of four losses compounding together. And now you’re in a position where you’re hoping the rest of the division has a terrible stretch. It’s completely possible, but hoping for the failures of others isn’t the position you want to be in, especially with two divisional losses on your resume.
After that three game stretch, the Saints play the Panthers again and Buccaneers after that. Starting this week, this is the biggest six week stretch of the Saints season, three division games and three of the top teams in the league.
It’ll be a challenging and important stretch. Beating the Panthers will give the Saints an extremely slim margin of error they need for this next three games, and it’ll set them up to have a chance to take advantage of the divisional games afterwards.
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