All told, 32 of the 40 game game picks went the Panthers' way. All five USA Today writers selected Carolina, while the closest panel pick was from Sports Illustrated, which went 4-3 in favor of the Panthers. Individual writers for NFL.com, Sporting News and Bleacher Report went with Carolina, while the ESPN panel sided with the Panthers (8-2) along with the SB Nation panel (5-2) and the CBS Sports panel (7-1).