CHARLOTTE — Part of the reason we spend so much time in this Mailbag talking about being normal and taking the long view is that it's so exhausting being the other way. Who can keep up?

The Panthers weren't headed to the Super Bowl when they shut out the Falcons, and it wasn't worth plowing the Earth with salt after they lost to the Patriots. The wild swings of emotion are a lot to process for everyone. And honestly, last week's 'Bag felt like therapy. Even the wife, who reads it every week to see if I made any jokes about her (Hi, honey! And not as far as you know), said there were "only so many versions of 'this is going to take time if you want it to be stable'" she could read.

But here's the secret. That happens to be just as true this week as it was last week.

The Panthers didn't f

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