{"id":95909,"date":"2022-10-13T13:46:09","date_gmt":"2022-10-13T13:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/the-carolina-panthers-problems-extend-far-beyond-matt-rhule\/"},"modified":"2022-10-13T13:46:09","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T13:46:09","slug":"the-carolina-panthers-problems-extend-far-beyond-matt-rhule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/the-carolina-panthers-problems-extend-far-beyond-matt-rhule\/","title":{"rendered":"The Carolina Panthers’ Problems Extend Far Beyond Matt Rhule"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the end, Matt Rhule proved to be little more than a $62 million human shield. The now former head coach of the Carolina Panthers, who was fired Monday after a 37-15 loss to the San Francisco 49ers that dropped Carolina to 1-4 on the season, initially came in as an innovative team builder. He’d had multiple 10-win seasons at Temple and helped revive a toxic Baylor program; Panthers owner David Tepper, who bought the team from a disgraced Jerry Richardson in 2018, gave Rhule a seven-year deal and full control of the roster in the hopes that he could rebuild the Panthers in a similar fashion. <\/p>\n

At Rhule’s introductory press conference, Tepper claimed that the undertaking would last about five seasons and set the team up for long-term success. Three years and 11 wins later, Tepper has abandoned that plan. And though the timing was a little strange\u2014you really needed five games this season to conclude that this wasn’t working?\u2014nobody is criticizing the decision to let Rhule go. <\/p>\n

Since Rhule’s hiring, the Panthers haven’t been anything other than a bad football team\u2014a bad football team with a bad quarterback and a bad coach. Rhule was given free reign to mold the roster to his liking and multiple shots at finding a long-term solution at quarterback. But the roster isn’t any better today than it was when Rhule took over in 2020, and the quarterback situation is arguably worse. As the face of the whole operation, Rhule was an obvious scapegoat. <\/p>\n

But now Rhule is gone, and Tepper remains as the only through line of the most mediocre stretch in franchise history. The grace period afforded to him after he took over for Richardson has officially expired. There is no more margin for error. If more failure follows, and the team’s 23-47 record since Tepper took over doesn’t improve, the \u201cbad owner\u201d accusations will only get stronger. Once that narrative is written, it’s hard to turn it around\u2014harder, even, than turning around a bad football team.<\/p>\n

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When I got the notification about Rhule’s firing, I didn’t have much of a reaction. I’ve been a Panthers fan my entire life, and I felt \u2026 nothing. No relief that this era of systematic mediocrity was finally over. No anger that it ever happened in the first place. No sense of excitement for what could come next. I didn’t even stop to consider a list of possible candidates who could replace him. I just didn’t care. And I don’t think I was alone.<\/p>\n

The strong connection the Panthers had built with their fan base during the height of the Cam Newton era has all but faded. In Newton, Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis, Josh Norman, and Greg Olsen, the franchise had several stars who were around long enough to become fixtures in the community\u2014and good enough to get to a Super Bowl during the 2015 season. But with this current team, there is nothing to really latch on to. The best player is an oft-injured running back who will be the subject of trade rumors for the next month. There are some good young pieces on the defense, but through no fault of their own, they have yet to create any memorable moments in meaningful games\u2014largely because the team hasn’t played in one of those since the playoffs after the 2017 season. There is nothing to look forward to, and peering into the recent past only makes that more obvious. <\/p>\n

During his press conference Monday, Tepper lamented the fact that there had been a lot of red in the Bank of America Stadium stands during Sunday’s loss to the 49ers, and he admitted that that was a factor in his decision to fire Rhule, along with a clear lack of progress on the field. It’s easy to pin waning fan interest on the team’s poor win-loss record\u2014if the team were contending for a playoff spot, fans would show up. But it’s also a reflection of the Panthers’ seemingly aimless roster-building strategy during the last few years.<\/p>\n

In the NFL, any matter of roster management starts with the quarterback. If you’re trying to build a long-term winner\u2014and Tepper has made it clear that sustained success is his aim\u2014you have to find a franchise quarterback. Rhule never came close to locating one, but that wasn’t necessarily the problem. Franchise quarterbacks are hard to find\u2014hello, Washington\u2014so there’s no shame in taking a big swing to land one. But Rhule never really did that. His approach was more like that of a contact hitter who was just trying to put the ball in play and get on base. <\/p>\n