The Panthers are still a lot closer to being out than being in, but their frantic 34-28 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday night (that nearly carried over into Monday morning) has them at 5-6 and in the mathematical mix for a wild card berth in the very tame NFC, where St. Louis (9-2) is the only team with a record better than 7-4.

The Panthers will probably crash the playoff party if they finish 9-7. But that’s a tall order. They have exceedingly winnable games remaining with San Francisco, Pittsburgh and New Orleans, but they also travel to Green Bay and must host powerful St. Louis next week.

Panther players certainly weren’t speculating about the postseason. They were just happy to have finally broken a three-game losing streak to staggering Atlanta (2-9) and pleased to have won back-to-back contests for the first time since December of 1998.

When Panthers coach George Seifert was questioned about possible playoff scenarios he looked like he might take ill.

“For us to talk about playoffs,” he said, “is way,way premature. We’ve still got more losses than wins. We’ve still got a very long way to go.”

But Seifert has made progress with his new team. Last year after 11 games, the Panthers were 2-9 and couldn’t wait to get rid of their coach and get rid of the season.

The Panthers showed Sunday night in what will be their only prime-time television appearance of 1999 that they’re neither all good nor all bad — just somewhere in the middle of the NFL muddle.

Carolina dominated the Falcons for long stretches, but still needed 14 Atlanta penalties and some late heroics by 37-year-old linebacker Kevin Greene to hang on in a game they led by 20 points in the fourth quarter.

Most of the game’s first 29 minutes were duller than your favorite No. 2 pencil after taking the SAT. The Panthers turned two early TD chances into John Kasay field goals and the Falcons didn’t do much of anything.

Young Panthers receiver Donald Hayes provided what excitement there was for the announced crowd of 55,507 and untold millions watching on TV. Pressed into duty by Rae Carruth’s well-publicized troubles and a hamstring injury suffered by Muhsin Muhammad, Hayes reeled in a 56-yard TD pass from Steve Beuerlein and had three additional first-half catches to keep drives moving.

In the last minute of the second quarter, things got a little crazy. Chris Chandler, who would tie his career best with four scoring passes, took Atlanta in for a TD and a 14-13 lead with 56 seconds left in the half.

Fifty-two seconds later, however, two pass interference calls against the Falcons set up a 1-yard scoring toss from Beuerlein to Patrick Jeffers that allowed Carolina to escape to the locker room with a 20-14 lead.

The early part of the second half belonged to the Panthers. Tim Biakabutuka ground out most of his 94 yards and Beuerlein (262 yards), who was sacked only once, picked a porous Falcon defense apart. Biakabutuka had an 11-yard TD run in the third quarter to make it 27-14 and Beuerlein tossed his third TD pass of the game to tight end Wesley Walls early in the fourth quarter to boost the Panthers’ bulge to 38-14.

That’s when a majority of the fans headed for the exits, forgetting apparently that these were still the unpredictable Panthers.

Atlanta suddenly zipped 74 yards in a hurry against the Panthers prevent defense to close to within 34-21 at the 8:34 mark.

After a Panther punt, Atlanta scored another TD in just three plays — the key one a remarkable catch-and-run by speedster Tim Dwight that covered 58 yards. Now, it was 34-28, with 3:12 remaining.

That’s when the Panthers made it really exciting. Rather than routinely killing the clock, Biakubutuka immediately put the ball on the ground at his own 20 and Atlanta’s Travis Hall recovered.

“I told the team they had no consideration whatsoever for my age,” said Seifert, half-joking and half-crying.

But the Panthers couldn’t snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Greene wouldn’t let them. He stormed through the line two plays later and not only sacked Chandler but forced a fumble, which was recovered by teammate Esera Tuaolo.

With 1:06 remaining the Panthers punted again, giving the Falcons one final shot.

Chandler got his team as far as the Atlanta 46 with 23 seconds left, but then Greene broke through once more for a game-sealing sack.

“Kevin was as dynamic as any player I’ve ever seen in those last few minutes,” said Seifert. “He was a dominating factor. You talk about timely sacks. My God, those were timely sacks. Those were Hall of Fame plays.”