LOS ANGELES – Carolina Panthers defensive end Mario Addison already had a game plan for the five-hour flight to Charlotte following Sunday’s 13-10 win against the Los Angeles Rams.

It involved two sodas, a movie and kicking up his feet.

Oh, and not thinking about a loss.

“Losing, it hurts, especially when you played your ass off,’’ said Addison, who had two sacks and three tackles for loss in Carolina's second consecutive win. “We came away with a win. It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win, and we needed it.’’

The Panthers (3-5) need a lot of wins if they hope to get into playoff contention. They remain tied with Tampa Bay for last place in the NFC South, two-and-a-half games behind Atlanta (6-3) and a game behind second-place New Orleans (4-4).

And they’ve lost to all three teams.

But they’re only two games behind the New York Giants (5-3) for the top wild-card spot, a game and a half behind Detroit (5-4) for the second. The Panthers are starting to find an identity and confidence that was missing during a 1-5 start. They don’t have the swagger from last season's Super Bowl run, but they have the kind of focus that helped them get there.

And they’re not getting booed by their home fans -- at least not, yet. The Rams, on the other hand, heard boos every time quarterback Case Keenum threw an incompletion Sunday.

“We’ve just got to worry about our business,’’ tight end Greg Olsen said. “We’ve got two home games in a row. We’ve got [a] chance to get back to .500, catch our breath and make a run. It’s obviously not, big picture not what we wanted, but from where we were at the bye, this is the best we can do.’’

The Panthers are trying to become the second NFL team since 1990 to come back from a 1-5 start and make the playoffs. The Kansas City Chiefs (6-2), next up on the schedule, won their final 10 regular-season games last season to make the playoffs.

Quarterback Cam Newton said the season already has “turned around before our eyes.’’ He then quickly reverted to coach Ron Rivera’s one-game-at-a-time mantra that ran rampant throughout the locker room in postgame interviews.

Cam Newton and the Panthers have won two in row since their bye week. Harry How/Getty Images

“We still haven’t gotten back to .500 like we need to be,’’ said outside linebacker Thomas Davis, who had a team-high 11 tackles, one sack, an interception and forced a fumble. “That’ll be part of the next step, and [we'll] continue to build and grow as a football team.’’

But .500 doesn’t seem as far away now as it did a few weeks ago. Winning a close game after three of their early losses came by a combined seven points has a way of changing perspective.

“I don’t see much difference from last year in how close these games have been and the ones we haven’t been able to finish out,’’ said Pro Bowl center Ryan Kalil, who hopes to return next week after missing Sunday’s game with a sprained shoulder. “The difference is we were able to hold onto leads better last year and come back and finish better. We just haven’t had that happen this year.’’

Until the past two weeks.

“Our ability to string a win back to back against two pretty good opponents shows the maturity of our group and our ability to just focus on what we can control -- and that’s the next game,’’ Kalil said.

The Panthers were able to win the war along the line of scrimmage in their past two games against L.A. and Arizona.

“I feel pretty confident about who we are as a football team,’’ Rivera said.

That starts with defense. As a former linebacker and defensive coordinator, Rivera loves games such as Sunday's that show off and reward physical toughness.

“It speaks well to our ability to be a tough football team, a physical football team -- and hopefully it will pay dividends as we move forward,’’ Rivera said.

It certainly helped make the long flight home more tolerable.

“If you’re going to fly five hours,’’ Olsen said, “at least you’re not miserable.’’