Panthers' Davis: Playoff 'window is closing'

The Carolina Panthers are well aware their chances of another trip to the playoffs - let alone the Super Bowl - are fading with only one win in five games.

Linebacker Thomas Davis knows that his team needs a win against the New Orleans Saints this week to avoid a nearly inescapable hole.

"Whenever you are put in a position that we put ourselves in right now as a football team, to start our season out 1-4 when we had so many high expectations coming into this season, without a doubt we have to realize everything that we had set forth to accomplish this season is still in front of us,'' Davis said on Thursday, according to ESPN's David Newton.

"But we also have to realize the window is closing. We can't continue to lose football games and try to accomplish the things we want to accomplish as a football team.''

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Davis remembers that the Panthers made the playoffs in 2014 with a 7-8-1 record after starting 3-8-1, but with the Atlanta Falcons off to a hot start, there's little chance that a second-half run will be enough.

"Every game moving forward is a must-win game for us as a football team,'' Davis said.

"We're not focused in on what could happen late in the season. We're not looking for this to be another 3-8-1 start and pray and hope that other people do our jobs for us."