Sunday Night Football game thread: Saints vs. Panthers

The 49ers took care of their business Sunday afternoon, and now they will wait and see which of the Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints will drop into a tie in the wildcard. Both teams have the tiebreaker edge over the 49ers due to their head-to-head wins. That means the 49ers need one of them to drop at least two games the rest of the way. They face each other twice, once tonight in New Orleans, and again in two weeks in Carolina.

The Panthers are playing as well as anybody right now, coming into this game with an eight-game winning streak. They're winning in all manner of ways, blowing out some bad teams, edging some good teams, and doing a little bit of everything. Cam Newton is not putting up ridiculous stats, but he's doing enough for this team to win.

The Saints are coming off an ugly 34-7 beatdown at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks. They play much better at home, but we'll see if there is any sort of mental block following last week's loss. It should be a good game.