Carolina Panthers As Favorite Betting Trend

The Panthers' struggles as favorites stem from a franchise caught between competing identities throughout the past decade. Carolina has consistently been a team built on defensive intensity and ground control, but these strengths become liabilities when laying points. Their conservative offensive approach under multiple coaching regimes has made it difficult to pull away from inferior opponents, leading to countless backdoor covers for underdogs. The psychological element cannot be ignored either. Carolina has rarely been in sustained periods of dominance, meaning when they do enter games as favorites, the team often lacks the killer instinct that separates elite franchises from pretenders. This manifests in predictable play-calling when protecting leads and a tendency to let lesser opponents hang around longer than the spread suggests they should. The franchise's quarterback instability has compounded these issues, as inconsistent signal-caller play makes it nearly impossible to control games through the air when running games stall. Whether it was Cam Newton's injury concerns, Sam Darnold's limitations, or the various stopgap solutions, Carolina has rarely possessed the offensive firepower to justify laying significant points. This trend matters most when Carolina is favored by more than a field goal against divisional opponents, where familiarity breeds competitive games regardless of talent disparity.