SAN JOSE, Calif. — Yeah, it did seem that way — as if the Panthers never lost a game this season.
“I had so much fun that I forgot that we actually lost one game this season,’’ said rookie receiver Devin Funchess. “It feels like we went undefeated throughout the whole thing.’’
They didn’t, of course, but they came mighty close. If not for a 20-13 loss to the Falcons on Dec. 27, the Panthers would be the third team in NFL history to enter a Super Bowl undefeated. As it stands, they are the sixth team to make it to a Super Bowl with one or no losses. They were 14-0 after outlasting the Giants 38-35 and their 15-1 regular-season record was anticipated by no one willing to get hooked up for a lie-detector test.
“I don’t want to be a wise guy,’’ Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman told The Post. “Obviously when we came to camp, I thought we could be 11-5, 12-4, and then [second-year receiver] Kelvin [Benjamin] goes down and that hurt. We’re sitting here at 17-1, let’s be honest, you have to be an idiot not to say that. I think where we got lucky, the silver lining in the cloud was Kelvin got hurt in August, so everybody got a chance to [say] ‘OK, he’s gone, now we got to make adjustments.’
“So when it happens like this, I’d be a liar to say I expected 15-1. I mean, who’s kidding who? It’s a unique group. This is unique. We have great leadership, we have great coaching. We’ve obviously got a quarterback. It’s really a unique group of people.’’
Each of the previous three one-loss teams to advance to a Super Bowl — the 1976 Raiders, 1984 49ers and 1985 Bears — finished the job with a triumph. If the Panthers follow in those footsteps, they will barge into the “greatest team of all time’’ discussion. They won’t be able to topple the 1972 Dolphins (still the NFL’s only undefeated Super Bowl winner) or the 1985 Bears (18-1) or the 1984 49ers (18-1) and may not even stack up with a few two-loss Super Bowl champions (1978 Steelers, 1989 49ers, 1992 Cowboys). But they will have to be part of the debate.
They will have to be part of the debate, unless they do not win. Then they will be, if not forgotten, no doubt pushed into the land of Unwanted Super Bowl Losers.
“It means it’s all for nothing if you don’t go out there and win,’’ said safety Roman Harper, who won a Super Bowl with the Saints. “This game’s not fun if you lose it. Everybody knows that, so we’ve got to go out there and finish and we’ve got to go do our thing. It’s not about just getting here, but finishing it.”
There were plenty of close calls for the Panthers. They won five games by five or fewer points and they did allow 308 points this season — the 1985 Bears gave up only 198 points. They nearly blew big leads against the Giants late in the season and to the Seahawks in the playoffs.
The one loss prevented the Panthers from joining the 1972 Dolphins (14-0) and 2007 Patriots (16-0) in reaching the Super Bowl unbeaten. Perhaps that loss took some of the pressure off and actually helped coach Ron Rivera this week, because there is no perfect season to protect.
“I don’t think you ever think about things like that when the season happens,’’ quarterback Cam Newton said. “I don’t think nobody is saying, ‘Oh, it was OK to lose that one.’ Of course every single game is being prepared to win. I said it once and I’ll say it again, if you go into any game or if you go into a season thinking that you can’t win them all, shame on you. That’s a loser’s approach.’’
Said fullback Mike Tolbert: “We just went out every game and just tried to fight, fight our tails off and get a win. We had some comeback victories like we did against Seattle. We had some blowouts. We had some games we had to win last minute.”
They haven’t won all of ’em, but darn near close to it, with one more to go.