The Tampa Bay Buccaneers kept their season alive with a 16-14 win over the Carolina Panthers on Saturday. This victory means that the NFC South title will be decided in Sunday’s game between the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints, who have already been eliminated from playoff contention.

Carolina had a chance to clinch the division with a win over Tampa Bay, but now the Panthers must rely on the Falcons to beat the Saints in order to maintain their division lead through tiebreakers. If the Saints win, the Buccaneers will take the division title based on the tiebreaker rules.

The Buccaneers are aiming for their fifth consecutive division title, while the Panthers are hoping for their first division title since coach Ron Rivera and quarterback Cam Newton led them to a 15-1 record and a Super Bowl appearance in 2015. Since that time, every other team in the NFC South has won the division at least once.

Carolina’s hopes of securing the title on Saturday came to an end when Baker Mayfield threw a touchdown pass to Cade Otton and Chase McLaughlin kicked three field goals to secure the two-point win. This left the Panthers with very little time to make a comeback in the final series of the game.

After McLaughlin’s 38-yard field goal attempt was blocked with just over five minutes remaining, Carolina managed to get within 16-14 on Bryce Young’s 8-yard TD pass to Jalen Coker with 2:27 left on the clock. Mayfield then completed a short pass to Otton for a 20-yard gain on third and 4, extending Tampa Bay’s drive and running off more time. The Panthers got the ball back at their 3-yard line with 18 seconds remaining and no timeouts. The game ended in a desperate series of laterals that resulted in a fumble.

Mayfield connected with Otton on an 18-yard touchdown pass for a 7-0 lead as the Bucs scored a touchdown on their opening drive for the third consecutive game. This was Otton’s first touchdown of the season.

Down 10-0, the Panthers turned Christian Rozeboom’s interception into a quick score. Rozeboom returned the pick 20 yards to Tampa Bay’s 19-yard line. Young then connected with Tommy Tremble on an 8-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 10-7.

Jacob Parrish picked off Young late in the second half, and the Buccaneers added a 36-yard field goal from McLaughlin to take a 13-7 halftime lead. McLaughlin then kicked a 48-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to extend Tampa Bay’s lead.

Carolina’s Ryan Fitzgerald missed a 54-yard field goal on the opening drive of the third quarter.

Mayfield completed his first six passes before throwing an inaccurate cross-field 13-yard toss to Payne Durham, who was wide open in the end zone. The Bucs settled for McLaughlin’s 29-yard field goal and a 10-0 lead.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.