The success of the Carolina Panthers in 2025 has them facing high expectations in the 2026 NFL season. After winning the NFC South, the Panthers will enter this year as one of the favorites.

But along with those expectations comes a target on their backs. 

The entire division is looking to chase the Panthers this season and get on top of the NFC South themselves. The Panthers were able to beat out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons thanks to a key tiebreaker, but they won't complain. After losing in a close game to the Los Angeles Rams, the Panthers are now looking to take that next step.

However, their schedule will be a little tougher as they face a first-place schedule for this season. With that schedule out already, there's a bit of a rare event for the Panthers in terms of one primetime game. 

A few days after the NFL released the schedule, CBS Sports wrote about some rarities and quirks with the schedule. For the Panthers, they will play on Sunday Night Football for the first time in 10 years, as CBS Sports writes: 

Panthers get rare Sunday night game. The Panthers will be hosting the Lions on Sunday night in Week 4, which will mark the first time in 10 years that they've played on Sunday night and the first time in 11 years that they've hosted a Sunday night game. 

The last time the Panthers were on Sunday Night Football, they were in Seattle late in the 2016 season and suffered a 40-7 blowout loss to the Seahawks. The last time they hosted a SNF game, they beat the Philadelphia Eagles 27-16 in 2015.

All-time the Panthers are 5-10 overall on SNF and 4-4 at home in that stretch.

But this year will provide them a tough test as the Detroit Lions will come to town. Even with the Lions struggling last season, they are projected to be in the mix in not only the NFC North but the entire conference.

This early season showdown could have some big implications on the NFC playoff race in the end.