ORLANDO, Fla. — Making the first Pro Bowl of your career is a red-letter moment. It's a testament to hard work, talent, and production, acknowledged by fans, coaches, and fellow players. Jaycee Horn and Robert Hunt aren't diminishing this accomplishment, both what it means for them personally and the Carolina Panthers as a whole. But as they leave Orlando on Monday, and the entire NFL focuses on the Super Bowl in New Orleans between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, so will Horn and Hunt. And along with it, the question that inevitably comes up…how close are the Panthers to the teams they lost to by a combined nine points?

Horn would like to watch the Super Bowl game as a fan at least once. Turn off his mind and enjoy football as relaxed as possible. But his brain won't allow it.

"It's kind of hard not to watch it through a film junky lens," laughed Horn Saturday afternoon while in Orlando appearing in his first Pro Bowl. I'm usually just looking at the receivers and DBs, seeing what's going on on the outside. But I try to have fun watching it, too."

When he sits down to watch the Super Bowl between the Chiefs and the Eagles next week, though, and that "film junky" part of his brain flips on, and he watches how they match each other and try to outsmart the other, he'll see two teams he knows his Panthers are on the precipice of measuring up with.

"I guess we were considered one of the worst teams at that point in the season, and they were considered one of the best, but you know, obviously, the game didn't play out like it was the best versus worst team," Horn pointed out.

"But that just shows you how much talent is on the different rosters in the league, and every Sunday, you got to show up to play no matter who's supposed to win."

The Panthers faced the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 12 of this past 2024 season, a 30-27 loss. No game comes down to one or two plays…but two from that game will haunt the Panthers for some time: a Patrick Mahomes 33-yard scramble that flipped field position in a tie-game with only 48 seconds remaining. And then, two snaps later, a catch-and-run by Kareem Hunt moved the Chiefs into game-winning chip-shot field goal range as the clock expired.

"I think a lot of people—not us, in the building, we want to win the games obviously—but outside are happy with just being close," offensive guard Robert Hunt, also in his first Pro Bowl, posed in Orlando this weekend. "But at the end of the day, you got to win those games."

Carolina had a chance to win another one of those games two weeks after the Chiefs loss. On the road in Philadelphia, a notoriously difficult place to stage a respectable performance, much less a win, a win seemed plausibly in hand during that Week 14 matchup. Down six with 52 seconds remaining and from the 23-yard line, Bryce Young lofted a teardrop to rookie receiver Xavier Legette near the goal line.

We won't recap in detail what happened next because most of you know and living in dark moments isn't healthy, but suffice it to say, the ball didn't survive the catch, and the Panthers walked out with a loss.

"It's just shows how small the margin of error is in the NFL," Horn recalled.

Added Hunt, "If we know how to win, we'll win those games."

It seems almost a given. Of course, if you know how to win the game, you'll win. But as both Horn and Hunt pointed out, it's not just about the game plan and logistically knowing how to win. It's about mentally learning how to push through.

"Finishing, details, all that stuff matters," said Horn. "Like when it happens, it might not seem like it matters because it's either 5 or 10 yards for a flag or whatever the situation is, but all those little plays matter, and you never know which play is going to determine the outcome of the game. So finishing and all the stuff Coach Canales talks about definitely plays a big part."

To Horn's point, finishing has been Canales' message all year. Finish the rep, the route, the play, the game, the season. NFL games are won in the fourth quarter, so make it there and finish. It's something the Chiefs—in search of the elusive three-peat—and the Eagles—in their third Super Bowl in the last eight seasons—have figured out.

"I mean, we got to learn how to win," Hunt preached. "I feel like our program has been down for a couple of years, multiple years, and we're not there yet; we're learning how to win. And those games, the Chiefs know how to win games like that. Philly knows how to win games like that, you know what I mean. Two teams that have won a lot of games, that know how to win."

Learning how to finish is the first step to learning how to win. If the latter half of 2024 was any indication, the Panthers are closer now than they were a year ago. Sending two players to the Pro Bowl for the first time since 2022 and having a slew on the alternate list indicates the talent and production has taken a step forward. And they experience up close, in Week 12 and Week 14, the difference in taking those close games.

Now, as they settle in to watch the Super Bowl in one week, whether as a fan of the sport or with pen and paper out to take notes like the film junkies they are, they'll see what it takes to make that final push.