You play the teams on your schedule. Not the Panthers fault the Colts have imploded, the Seahawks can't fin8ah a game and chip Kelly tinkered too much with them.
The Bengals have not played anyone with a winning record, one team without a losing record- Hawks (4-4).
The Patriots have played one team with a winning record- Jets (4-3).
The Broncos have played two teams with winning records- (Vikes (5-2) and GB (6-1).
The Panthers have played one team without a losing record - Hawks (4-4).
The Packers have played two reams with winning records - Rams (4-3) and Broncos (7-0) and one without a losing record- Hawks (4-4).
So just looking at that, the Broncos and GB are really the only teams worth a shit.
The 49ers are almost as good as those two because they've made almost all the teams they've played have winning records.
Odds are the Panthers are much more of a SB contender than 49ers or KC.
Do I believe they are an actual contender to get to the SB? Dunno yet. But I like their odds right now. It's nice to win for a change. I do know they will be in either 1st place or 2nd place in the NFC after this week.
They could absolutely go 7 and 9. That's their favorite numbers, in that order. It's the Meat juju.