The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Panthers, along with the Jacksonville Jaguars, began play as 1995 NFL expansion teams.

The Panthers conduct summer training camp at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

On October 26, 1993, the league announced that the owners had unanimously voted for the Carolinas to receive the 29th franchise, the first new NFL team since 1976 (Jacksonville was the other city). Fans all over the region celebrated with fireworks. In a memorable moment during the expansion announcement conference, Richardson spoke directly into the camera to thank the 40,000 people who had purchased the PSLs and allowing the stadium to be built without a burden to the taxpayers.

The Panthers signed Dom Capers, former defensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers, as their inaugural head coach. Bill Goldberg was picked up off the rosters of the Atlanta Falcons, but made Panther history by being the first player cut by the Panthers; Goldberg would later go on to much greater fame as a professional wrestler for WCW and WWE. And in 1995, when the Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars began building their team, they had the luxury of something the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks did not have when they entered the league in 1976: free agency. The Panthers made excellent use of the tool, picking up wide receiver Don Beebe, linebacker Sam Mills, and placekicker John Kasay. As of 2006, Kasay is the only remaining "Original Panther" from the inaugural season. The Panthers became the first expansion team to win their first game, winning the annual Hall of Fame Game against the fellow expansion Jacksonville Jaguars 20-14 on July 29, 1995 (a game known as the "Battle of the Big Cats", due to the similar nicknames of the franchises). The home games that first season were played at Clemson University, as the stadium was still under construction. This made the Panthers the only sports team in one of the Big Four leagues ever based out of South Carolina, even if only for one year. The Panthers won their first game against the New York Jets 26-15 on October 15, 1995, after Sam Mills returned an interception 36 yards for a touchdown. Later that year, the Panthers stunned the league by not only winning four consecutive games (an expansion team record), but defeating the defending Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers, 13-7, the first time an expansion team had beaten the reigning champs. The Panthers finished their season 7-9, more than doubling the previous record of a first year expansion team (and far surpassing the 0-14 record of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their inaugural season).

In the 1996 Draft, the Panthers used their first pick on running back Tim Biakabutuka, and their second pick on wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad. During the off-season, they also picked up quarterback Steve Beuerlein, tight end Wesley Walls, and linebacker Kevin Greene. The second year proved even better than the first, as the players found a groove and rattled off a seven-game winning streak to end the season and took the top spot in the NFC West. They beat the Dallas Cowboys 26-17 in the NFC Divisional Playoffs before falling to the eventual Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers 30-13 in the NFC Championship.

New head coach George Seifert took over the team for the 1999 season. In his first year as head coach, he turned them into an 8-8 team, a vast improvement from the 4-12 record the previous year, as quarterback Steve Beuerlein had an outstanding season. 1999 has been, to this point, Carolina's best offensive season. New signing Patrick Jeffers and veteran tight end Wesley Walls each scored 12 touchdowns; Muhsin Muhammad scored eight and made a Pro Bowl along with Beuerlein. Despite a struggling and untalented defense, the team finished strong and came close to a playoff berth.

After being turned down by Steve Spurrier and Tony Dungy for the coaching job, the Panthers hired New York Giants defensive coordinator John Fox as the team's third head coach. Fox was known for defensive discipline, and it would be needed to improve a team that had finished in the bottom of the defensive rankings the previous year. Fox looked to the 2002 draft to begin revamping the franchise, and it started with the second overall pick of the draft: Julius Peppers. Peppers was a dominating defensive end at the University of North Carolina, and he was a solid fit with Fox's defensive plan. The Panthers also picked up linebacker Will Witherspoon and running back DeShaun Foster in the draft. Peppers combined with fellow defensive end Mike Rucker and defensive tackles Brentson Buckner and Kris Jenkins to form what many football experts called the best front four defensive line in football. Meanwhile, Mike Minter anchored the secondary, while Witherspoon (affectionately called "Spoon" by fans & teammates) and Mark Fields led the linebacker corps. Fox's defense-first philosophy worked with the team, as they turned around to a 7-9 record, and posted the second-best overall defense in the league, including allowing a league-minimum 3.69 yards per rushing attempt.

The 2003 season started with hope. The Panthers had drafted several young prospects, including Ricky Manning, Jr. out of UCLA at cornerback, and Jordan Gross at offensive tackle. In addition, quarterback Jake Delhomme, running back Stephen Davis, and wide receiver Ricky Proehl were signed in the off-season, making additions to an offense that needed to complement a top-ranked defense. The team started the season 5-0, after Delhomme replaced Peete at halftime of the season opener and led the Panthers to a fourth quarter comeback, thus winning the starting job. Delhomme eventually led the team to an 11-5 record and a playoff berth.

In the playoffs, they easily defeated the Cowboys 29-10 in the Wild-card game before facing the St. Louis Rams in the divisional playoff game in the Edward Jones Dome. Carolina had an 11-point lead in the last 3 minutes of play, but a touchdown from Marshall Faulk, a successful two point conversion, and an onside kick that led to a field goal tied the game and sent it to overtime. Both John Kasay and Jeff Wilkins missed potential game-winning kicks in the first overtime, and Carolina had the ball at the start of the second overtime. In the first play of 2nd OT, however, Jake Delhomme hit Steve Smith with a 69-yard touchdown pass to win the game, 29-23 and send the Panthers into the NFC Championship against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles, led by Donovan McNabb, were in the NFC title match for the 3rd year in a row, but had lost the previous two years. The Panthers made it three in a row for Philadelphia, as they shut down the Eagles offense and, with a 14-3 victory, headed to their first Super Bowl, against the New England Patriots.

Super Bowl XXXVIII may have been remembered more for the Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime Show with Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction", but football fans will agree that the game was one of the best played games in Super Bowl history. The first quarter was scoreless, and neither team scored until near the end of the first half. However, 24 points were scored in the last 5 minutes of the first half, and the score going into halftime was 14-10 New England. The third quarter was as scoreless as the first, and it wasn't until late in the game that things heated up once again. The teams traded leads numerous times in the highest-scoring fourth quarter in Super Bowl history, including setting a record when Jake Delhomme hit Muhsin Muhammad for an 85-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter, the longest offensive play in Super Bowl history. That pass made the score 22-21, Carolina. After New England responded with a touchdown of their own and a 2-point conversion to make it 29-22, Carolina would storm right back to tie the game with a touchdown pass to Ricky Proehl with 1:08 left in regulation, opening the possibility to the first overtime game in Super Bowl history. However, John Kasay's kickoff went out of bounds, giving the Patriots the ball on their own 40-yard line. Adam Vinatieri, who had won Super Bowl XXXVI two years earlier on a last-second field goal, repeated his heroics, connecting on a 41-yarder with four seconds left, even though he had already missed two field goals in the game. This gave the Patriots their second Super Bowl win in three years. The multiple close games, won either in overtime or with a slim margin, gave way to a new nickname for the Panthers: the "Cardiac Cats".

The Panthers began their next post-season play on Sunday January 8, 2006 at Giants Stadium against the New York Giants. New York was the nation's number one television market, and the shut out in the playoffs was significant. Their next opponent was the Chicago Bears, home to the nation's third largest television market, who started off the week by reminding the Panthers about their regular season victory over them. The Panthers responded with a victory, beating the Bears at Soldier Field with a final score of 29-21. Unaffected by the major media hype of the Bears' defense, the Panthers led throughout starting with an incredible touchdown reception by Steve Smith on the second play from scrimmage. With that victory, the Panthers advanced to the NFC Championship Game for the third time in the franchise's 11-year history. However, during the game Deshaun Foster suffered a crushing ankle injury that would keep him indefinitely sidelined. Also, star defensive end Julius Peppers re-injured an ailing shoulder. The next weekend they played against the Seattle Seahawks for the NFC Championship title, but came up short, and the Panthers lost 34-14.

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