Super Bowl 50 predictions: Panthers or Broncos? Here are our picks

Will Peyton Manning ride off a winner in possibly his last rodeo? Or Will Super Bowl 50 be the coronation of Cam Newton and the Panthers?

After a week full of endless questions and hype, we'll get answers on Super Bowl Sunday when one team walks away with the Lombardi Trophy. Superman vs. the Sheriff. No. 1 seed vs. No. 1 seed. No. 1 offense vs. No. 1 defense. It's the Panthers against the Broncos. It's time for Super Bowl 50. CBSSports.com's intrepid team of NFL writers have submitted their final Super Bowl picks, predicting the final score along with the game MVP. Check out their thoughts below, and feel free to add your two cents in the comments section.

2015 Super Bowl final predictions: Panthers at Broncos
Writer	Winner	Score	Super Bowl MVP
PETE PRISCO Senior NFL Columnist		Broncos 23, Panthers 21	MVP: Von Miller
PRISCO'S TAKE: As much as I love offense, defense will win this championship. That's not to say Carolina's defense isn't good, but this Denver defense is rolling right now. Why? Pass rushers and corners, the formula for any good defense. In Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware, they have the edge rushers to disrupt any offense. In Aqib Talib, Chris Harris Jr. and Bradley Roby, they have the cover players to allow them to do a lot of different things on defense. That's something that will help give them an edge on Cam Newton. His offense, and especially his run game, is so diverse. That can put pressure on the Broncos to be less aggressive, but I doubt they will be. They will be who they are, and they should be. That means Miller and Ware attacking, with Derek Wolfe and Malik Jackson holding up inside, with the cover corners locking up down the field. The Carolina defense will play well too, but I think Manning will be patient and find holes in their zone. It will be a turnover late caused by that Denver rush that proves to be the difference. They will get a late field goal off of it, then hold on to win. Then Manning will go to the podium to help pick up his second Lombardi Trophy, and then promptly tell all the haters to kiss his backside. Not an all-time great? Think again. Only this time, he will have an all-time great defense to thank for it.
JASON LA CANFORA CBS Sports NFL Insider		Panthers 24 Broncos 17	MVP: Cam Newton
LA CANFORA'S TAKE: Too much Cam Newton. Not enough Broncos offense. The Broncos won't be able to pin back and attack the passer and if they let Cam Newton break contain he will kill them on the ground. If they can keep Carolina from jumping to a fast start then we've got a game. Otherwise, it could get ugly. The Broncos aren't built to play from behind and I don't see them mustering more than a touchdown or two. Turnovers could obviously swing things dramatically one way or the other, but I don't see this being a stage that's too big for the young Panthers and mustering 270 yards of total offense again will put a tremendous strain on a Denver defense facing a much more multiple and balanced offense Sunday than it did two weeks ago. Cam Newton collects some more hardware on the big stage.
JARED DUBIN NFL Writer		Panthers 20, Broncos 16	MVP: Cam Newton
DUBIN'S TAKE:The Panthers' season has been all about dominant defense and Cam Newton being the best player on the field. The Panthers forced turnovers on a greater percentage of their opponents' drives than any other team in the league this season, while Peyton Manning was the NFL's most pick-happy QB before bowing out with an injury for a large stretch of the season. Manning has gone INT-less during Denver's run to the Super Bowl, but the Patriots dropped three or four picks last week alone, so it's reasonable to expect that run to come to an end on Sunday. Unless he plays a completely mistake-free game, it's hard to see Denver scoring enough to keep up with the Panthers, even if the Broncos' defensive front can get pressure on Newton. Greg Olsen presents problems over the middle for the Denver defense no matter who they choose to match up with him, and Cam is a completely different threat than either QB the Broncos faced during their jaunt through the AFC playoffs. His ability to not just deliver the ball under pressure, but escape it to take off and run down the field presents a great challenge unlike any Denver has faced this year. I see him crossing the goal line for a rushing score and throwing for another while the defense puts the clamps on Manning's offense. When it's all said and done, Cam will have two MVP trophies to put on his shelf.
RYAN WILSON NFL Writer		Broncos 17, Panthers 14	MVP: Von Miller
WILSON'S TAKE:Two years ago, the Broncos' Super Bowl hopes were dashed after just one play. For them to have any chance this time around, the defense will have to play out of its mind. And that's saying something because this unit is already the best in the league. But without the old Peyton Manning (as opposed to "just old Peyton Manning"), there's little reason to think that Denver's offense can do enough to stave off the high-powered Panthers. But as we've seen more most of the season, Denver's offense just stayed out of the way while the D was in full-on shutdown mode. And for the most part, it worked. Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips needs a huge game from Von Miller, who can at times be unstoppable. Phillips will also need Aqib Talib and the secondary to blanket a -- let's be honest -- a group of underwhelming receivers after you get past Greg Olsen. The wild card, of course, is Cam Newton. Can Phillips do enough to slow him down? Can the Broncos create turnovers and turn them into points? Because if that happens, Manning's responsibilities go from "We need you to throw for 400 yards" to "just don't throw any stupid interceptions" and the Broncos can lean on C.J. Anderson and Ronnie Hillman. We actually think there's decent chance that happens, Peyton matches his brother in Super Bowl rings and calls it a career.
JOHN BREECH NFL Writer		Broncos 23, Panthers 20	MVP: Peyton Manning
BREECH'S TAKE: Peyton Manning actually looks healthy, like he's been eating a few less chicken parms and a few more apples. Now, that doesn't mean he's going to throw for 413 yards against the Panthers, but it does mean he could surprise the Panthers with his arm strength and ability to throw downfield. On the other hand, the Broncos might not even need a huge game from Manning because this game's going to come down to whether or not the Broncos defense can stop Cam Newton. The Broncos aren't going to win a shootout and if the Panthers hit the 30-point mark, there's a 196 percent chance they're going to win. That being said, you've probably heard that defense wins championships, and if that's the case, then Carolina might want to forfeit. The Broncos defense finished ranked No. 1 overall in the NFL this regular season, which is usually a good sign for a Super Bowl team. Of the 11 teams before 2015 that went into a Super Bowl with the top-ranked defense, nine of them won. I think it's going to be 10 after Sunday. On Sept. 9, 2015, I said the Broncos would win Super Bowl 50 and that Peyton Manning would be named MVP. I'm sticking by both predictions.
SEAN WAGNER-McGOUGH NFL Writer		Panthers 28, Broncos 17	MVP: Cam Newton
WAGNER-McGOUGH'S TAKE: Denver's defense makes the Broncos a tempting pick -- so much that I was actually going to ride with them right up until Thursday morning. But after sleeping on it for the past four or five days, I still can't figure out how the Broncos are going to score on the Panthers defense. Both teams will struggle to score in this one, and Denver's pass rush will give Peyton Manning a fourth-quarter shot, but eventually the Panthers and their top-scoring offense break through and force the Broncos into predictable passing situations, which should make Peyton Manning good for a turnover or two. After all, he threw 17 picks in 10 regular-season games while the Panthers led the league with 39 takeaways. That should set up Cam Newton and the Panthers offense with a few short fields, and they've been nearly unstoppable near the end zone, scoring a touchdown on 10 of their past 11 red-zone trips. Again, I don't think this is blowout. The Broncos defense is too dang good to get run out of a game, which will allow the Broncos to hang around and, hey, maybe even pull off the Hollywood ending for Manning. But, in the end, the Panthers won't let Manning capture his second ring.