Panthers ready for final step in special season as Broncos await in Super Bowl 50

The buildup is just about over, but the story lines abound as the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos move closer and closer to kickoff of Super Bowl 50 on Sunday.

It’s the Panthers’ chance to become the NFL’s first one-loss champion since the 1985 Chicago Bears and join the conversation of all-time great teams. To make franchise history with their first Super Bowl title and realize the payoff of patience for a process that has been five years in the making. And for quarterback Cam Newton to further his case as the game’s most exciting and valuable player.

It’s Peyton Manning’s chance to augment his Hall of Fame resume in what could be the final game of his career. For the Denver defense to establish itself as an all-time great unit. And for Broncos general manager John Elway to claim a Super Bowl title as an executive to match his two rings as a player with the franchise.

It’s the biggest stage in American sports, the much anticipated finale to another NFL season that will indelibly change the legacy of one franchise and its players.

The Panthers and Broncos kickoff at 6:30 p.m. ET from Levi’s Stadium on Sunday to finally determine all of the above.

“This is a moment that I’ve dreamed about my whole entire life,” Newton said this week. “... It’s more or less a moment that has been built or a stage that’s been built for us as a team. We’ve been talking about this moment since Day 1 of OTAs and for it to come to fruition as it has it’s just great to be a part of.”

It’s the second Super Bowl appearance in franchise history for the Carolina Panthers following a 32-29 loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVIII.

This Panthers team captured the attention of the region with a 14-0 start, 15-1 regular season and a 49-15 dismantling of the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Championship game.

And there’s a local subplot for fans along the Grand Strand as well, with a pair of former Coastal Carolina standouts in Panthers cornerback Josh Norman and fullback Mike Tolbert sharing the spotlight and the stage.

“Just bringing [a championship] back here to Charlotte, we’ve never had that here and to do that I feel like we would be immortalized forever here,’ Norman said.

Norman has been a breakout star this season for the Panthers while emerging as one of the top cornerbacks in the game, complementing a defense led by star linebacker Luke Kuechly and veteran linebacker Thomas Davis (who will be playing Sunday just two weeks after breaking his forearm).

But it’s been the Carolina offense and Newton who have stolen the show this season.

The fifth-year quarterback won the NFL MVP award on Saturday night after passing for 3,837 yards 33 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in the regular season while also rushing for 636 yards and 10 scores.

Altogether, including a pounding rushing attack that ranked second in the league in the regular season with 142.6 yards per game on the ground, the Panthers were the NFL’s highest scoring team at 31.2 points per game.

On the other side, they face the NFL’s top-ranked defense as Denver – led by veteran outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware, fellow star outside linebacker Von Miller and a strong secondary and supporting cast – held opponents to a league-low 283.1 yards per game during the regular season and ranked fourth in allowing 18.5 points per contest.

“Those guys on that side of the ball for Denver are amazing at what they do,” Tolbert said. “They’ve got a Hall of Famer on one side and a future Hall of Famer on another, so we’ve got our work cut out for us, but we’re going to be ready when Sunday comes.”

The Panthers are considered the favorites in this game, and the Broncos – who went 12-4 in the regular season to claim the AFC’s top seed – said this week that they’re just fine with that.

“It don’t really mean too much. You’ve got to pick favorites, underdogs. It is what it is,” Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib said. “We don’t really pay much attention to it. It is what it is. ... It’s just the experts doing their job. You’ve got to pick somebody right?”

Denver is playing in the Super Bowl for the second time in three years and looking to replace memories of a 43-8 loss to the Seattle Seahawks two years ago.

That storyline was brought up with the Broncos this week, as much as they haven’t wanted to dwell on it.

“[There’s] two teams in the world that are playing right now and both teams are good,” Broncos running back C.J. Anderson said. “We both know that, and whoever makes the least amount of mistakes will win the game on Sunday. Two years ago we made more mistakes than we wanted to. ... At the end of the day that was Super Bowl XLVIII two years ago. We’re a different team now with a different roster, different guys. We’ve got an opportunity to win a championship this Sunday.”

On that point, though, the Broncos quarterback is a different player now too.

Manning was in the midst of an MVP season two years ago while leading Denver to that Super Bowl, but age and injuries have taken their toll on the legend.

So much of the talk this week was about whether or not this would be his last game – he insists he hasn’t made a decision yet – and about whether he has enough left in his arm to capture his second career Super Bowl ring.

The sentimentality of seeing an all-time great on this stage potentially for the last time will no doubt be a big draw for fans around the country, but for their part, the Panthers are prepared to play spoiler to any sort of fairy tale ending for Manning.

“He’s a Future Hall of Famer, hats off to him, nothing but respect for the guy and the way he’s fought for the last 18-plus years to be in the position he’s in now,” Tolbert said. “It’s a tremendous feat for him, but I don’t want him to win. If he retires, he retires, but hopefully he retires on a sour note.”

For the Panthers, regardless of what happens Sunday, it’s been a special season and head coach Ron Rivera made sure to underscore that point this week.

“Whether we win or not, I think the most important thing about it is just what we brought to the Carolinas, to the community,” he said. “I think that’s more so important than anything else. Some people say we’ve revitalized it, we’ve brought some excitement, we’ve united the Carolinas so they can really cheer for one group.

“Because when you go to Carolina, it is such a hotbed of college athletics – you’ve got UNC, you’ve got Duke and you’ve got NC State and South Carolina and Clemson right down the road. There’s so many great college programs, to be able to bring the fans together in the Carolinas has been kind of neat. ... To be a uniting force, that’s been a neat experience.”

To win a Super Bowl championship on top of that, though, would be timeless.

This story was originally published February 6, 2016 at 10:01 PM with the headline "Panthers ready for final step in special season as Broncos await in Super Bowl 50."