So argues Neil Paine of fivethirtyeight.com, based upon advanced statistical metrics:
Elo assigns Carolina a rating that implies it would win about 11.5 games against an average slate of 16 randomly drawn opponents. That’s quite good — in terms of true talent, it’s better than about 93 percent of teams under the current structure of the NFL. But going into this season, the average historical 11-0 team had the talent to win 12.5 games against the same kind of schedule. In other words, the 2015 Panthers are missing a whole win of talent compared with their 11-0 peers. And a win of talent goes a long way — according to Elo, it’s roughly the difference between Carolina and the 6-5 Kansas City Chiefs.
And:
While the Panthers’ unbeaten run is an outlier among 11-0 starts, both in quality and composition, there are far worse fates than potentially being the worst team to accomplish the feat. In fact, how they’ve done it emphasizes how impressive the streak is: 11 wins without a loss in the NFL is truly rarified territory, and Carolina got there without putting up the rarified stats that typically go along with the record. Put another way: The Panthers win ugly.
