Carolina Panthers: Why the blame game isn’t helping anybody

Rhule’s criticism of Bridgewater

Patience seems to be wearing thin where Matt Rhule is concerned. The head coach is growing weary of his roster letting him down both on and off the field and this is sure to come with substantial changes during another critical offseason period in 2021.

Although he might not admit it publically, this might also include the Carolina Panthers drafting a potential franchise quarterback for the future.

Rhule declared his faith in Teddy Bridgewater immediately following the game. But how much creditability this has from the man who outlined his excitement to work with Cam Newton after signing a seven-year, $60 million deal to prise him away from Baylor’s college football program.

He was quick to point out Bridgewater’s faults, with clear mismanagement ahead of the two-minute late in the game which played a leading role in their eventual downfall at the forefront of his mind.

"“Teddy made a decision to run a play when we asked him not to. Watching the tape, I see what he saw, but it shouldn’t happen that way. That’ll be made clear moving forward. There’s a time and a place. You can’t have quarterbacks play in the black and white, there has to be some gray area. In that area, I think he thought he had a little more grace to get that done, but it’s not what we wanted.”"

While this was justified criticism after the way Bridgewater performed down the stretch, the Panthers are trying to overcome the same difficulties every week and at some stage, this has to come down to coaching and not making the right sort of adjustments away from the gridiron.

Only time will tell as to whether this can be resolved long-term. But it doesn’t look like coming with the current players at Rhule’s disposal.