What the ESPN FPI Says About the Panthers' Chances Against the Buccaneers

Can the Panthers split the season series with Tampa Bay?

It's been a tale of two teams over the last couple of weeks as the Carolina Panthers looked like they were starting to figure some things out offensively with a 30-point performance against the Green Bay Packers on Christmas Eve, but followed it up by getting shut out in Jacksonville one week later.

Once again, the offensive line struggled to protect and the ground game never got going, finishing the day with a grand total of 124 yards of offense. 

To finish this dreadful season out, the Panthers will return home to Bank of America Stadium to host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team they nearly beat last month. It was Chris Tabor's first game as interim head coach when they met with Tampa the first time around and couldn't overcome some mistakes late. 

Tampa enters this week with an opportunity to win the division and make the playoffs. They don't need any help either. All they need is to win the game. After a rough stretch in the middle of the season where they lost six of seven, the Bucs have responded winning four of its last five. 

According to the ESPN FPI, the Panthers have just a 27.8% chance to win the game and finish 3-14 while the Buccaneers have a 71.9% of winning which would drop them to 2-15.

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