TEMPE, Arizona (Ticker) -- It may not have taken the Carolina Panthers their customary extra session, but they finally claimed the NFC South title.
John Kasay booted a 49-yard field goal with four seconds left to lift the Panthers to a 20-17 victory over the Arizona Cardinals and their second division title in team history.
Carolina (9-5) ended a three-game skid and tied Arizona's 1998 record of seven victories by three points or fewer. But the Panthers appeared headed for their fifth overtime of the season after Neil Rackers' 44-yard field goal with 69 seconds left for Arizona forged a 17-17 tie.
"We've lost three in a row, we've been a little gritty and I was real proud of the way they fought," Panthers coach John Fox said. "When you're on the road, it doesn't matter about the record. I was real proud of the way our team fought back today."
The Panthers took over on their own 20-yard-line and Jake Delhomme used a series of short completions to take them into Kasay's range. Delhomme was 6-of-8 for 54 yards on the drive.
The winning drive featured excellent work by Steve Smith, who had five catches for 43 yards. Smith made excellent use of the sidelines on the drive, getting out of bounds four times.
"Everything's kind of blurry right now, but when Steve runs his routes correctly, he's very tough to cover and tough to beat," Delhomme said.
With 12 seconds left, Delhomme hit Smith on the left sideline for a 13-yard gain to the Cardinals' 38-yard line. Still out of range, the duo hooked up for a seven-yard gain and Smith went out of bounds with eight seconds to go.
After Kasay came on and booted his kick through the uprights, Arizona (3-11) went backwards on the ensuing kickoff as Carolina stormed the field in celebration.
"We were able to come up with the win and clutch drive when we needed to have one and now we are in now," Delhomme said. "We just need to build momentum going into next week."
The Cardinals got off to a rough start with turnovers on their first two possessions. Josh McCown, making his first career start, had his first pass intercepted by veteran safety Mike Minter, who ran it back 35 yards for a 7-0 lead.
McCown, who was 14-of-25 for 172 yards, regrouped and led Arizona to a pair of first-half touchdown drives, scoring on a 16-yard run for a 7-7 tie late in the first quarter. Emmitt Smith capped a 10-play, 59-yard drive with a four-yard TD run for his second rushing score as a Cardinal and a 14-7 halftime lead.
"I hope I showed I managed the game and played well enough that people have confidence in me," McCown said. "But the bottom line is you have to win. That's the one thing I want to change."
Kasay's 21-yard field goal cut the deficit to 14-10 in the third quarter and Carolina reclaimed the lead with a 93-yard drive on its next possession, capped by Delhomme's 31-yard TD pass to tailback DeShaun Foster.
The Cardinals missed a chance to tie when Rackers' 35-yard field goal was wide right with 8:29 to go. After Carolina was forced to punt, McCown got hot on Arizona's final drive, including a 24-yard yard pass to rookie Anquan Boldin on 3rd-and-20 that kept it alive.
