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Hundreds of Panthers fans welcome team back to Charlotte

The Carolina Panthers returned to Charlotte without a Lombardi Trophy, but plenty of fans were there to welcome the team regardless. An estimated 1,000 fans met the team's plane at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, and hundreds more met the team at Bank of America Stadium.

It was a nice gesture, and well deserved for a brilliant team. Here's the issue: remember that as of Sunday afternoon, people were  talking of Carolina as being one of the greatest NFL teams of all time. All it needed to do was beat up on a presumably fragile Denver and the Panthers would punch their ticket alongside the legendary Bears, 49ers, Cowboys, Steelers and Patriots teams of the past.

Well, we all know what happened ... Carolina got curb-stomped, beaten down so badly that it didn't just lose the game, it lost its reputation. Denver beat Carolina so bad that it retroactively knocked the entire team down a few pegs; nobody now would raise the idea of this team being one of the all-time greats.

That's why the fans' turnout was so welcome for the team, and so necessary. Not many teams win 17 games in a season; the Panthers deserve all the respect they get.

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.