CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera took advantage of a late-season bye and a rainy Sunday afternoon to catch up with the rest of the league on NFL RedZone.
"Which was kind of crazy," Rivera said on Monday as he recounted the experience. "Just when I started getting into a game they switched to another game and I'm trying to figure, ‘What the heck?'"
Too bad Rivera can't watch the rest of the season in the NFC South unfold that way.
Talk about crazy.
The idle Panthers (3-7-1) moved within a half game of first-place Atlanta (4-7) and New Orleans (4-7) as both lost -- the Falcons 26-24 on a last-second field goal by Cleveland on Sunday and the Saints 34-27 to Baltimore on Monday night.
With five games remaining, the Panthers are in position to control their own destiny. If they win out against Minnesota, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, Cleveland and Atlanta to finish 8-7-1, they win the division. The best either Atlanta or New Orleans can do under that scenario is 8-8.
But first, as fullback Mike Tolbert was reminded on Monday, the Panthers have to win a game.
They haven't done that since an Oct. 5 victory over the Chicago Bears. Since then, they have gone 0-5-1, including a 28-10 home loss to New Orleans and a 19-17 home loss to Atlanta.
"We've been playing OK football the past few weeks, but we haven't done enough," Tolbert said. "Now we need to play till the end of the game and finish out, just put it all together and win a football game one at a time."
The fact that the first step is a trip to Minnesota is somewhat ironic. Carolina entered a 2013 game in Minneapolis with a 1-3 record and Rivera's future up in the air.
The Panthers won 35-10 to start an eight-game winning streak that led to a 12-4 record and the NFC title.
Rivera has reminded players of that game.
"But it's not just the fact that we played Minnesota," Rivera said. "It was just the fact that we played well and we started playing well from that point on.”
What looked as easy as flipping on a light switch really wasn't that easy. It won't be that easy this week, either.
"I wish it was that easy," Rivera said. "There's so many things that go into it, so many things that we've gone through and had an opportunity to evaluate."
Rivera went through the reports of all his position coaches and coordinators, as well as his own, during the bye week looking for answers.
He said one player isn't to blame. He also said it's not the coaching.
"There's a mix of things, there's a mix of reasons," he said. "We're trying to get past the negativity. We're trying to look at the positive side of it. I know it's hard to look at the positive side of being 3-7-1, but again, we're past being a young team.
"We're past being different players. We've played together for over half a season, so we should know. We should understand and we should be better, and these are the reasons why as we go forward."
The time off appears to have been good for the players mentally and physically. Only defensive tackle Star Lotulelei (knee) and rookie guard Andrew Norwell (leg) did not practice on Monday.
"The few days we had off really helped for us to settle down and come back with a new mindset and new attitude," Tolbert said.
Losses by Atlanta and New Orleans didn't hurt, either.
The fact that Rivera went through this in 2008 as an assistant at San Diego, which won its final four games to win the AFC West at 8-8, helps him keep things in perspective.
"This is almost the mirror image," Rivera said. "Denver had a little bit more of a lead, but I'm telling you, and I've been trying to stress it so everybody understands it. It's up for grabs.
"It really is. It's a five-game race."
Kind of crazy.