4 quotes that signal the end for Panthers QB Teddy Bridgewater

"“For us, we have to evaluate our total offense, what we’re doing, players, the schemes, at every position. Teddy has to have a tremendous offseason.” – Matt Rhule"

Matt Rhule’s criticism

Teddy Bridgewater’s level of production – especially during the second half of the season – didn’t impress head coach Matt Rhule. The former Baylor man pinpointed his knee injury earlier in the campaign as the tipping point that led to some steady regression. But that excuse was wearing extremely thin by the time competitive action came to a conclusion.

This would no doubt have caused Rhule a great deal of frustration, something which came to a head with Bridgewater’s benching at home to the New Orleans Saints in their season finale. The Carolina Panthers had a 5-11 record to end the 2020 season, which could have looked a little bit better had they got more in the way of clinical play from their quarterback spot.

Rhule made an encouraging start overall to his time at the next level. He has the Panthers moving in the right direction with some exciting pieces from which to build a contender moving forward. But a team is only as good as the person under center.

This won’t go unnoticed by Rhule, who will be coming up with a plan alongside general manager Scott Fitterer that might end up with Bridgewater on the outside looking in.

They might give him a pass considering how poor protection was and only having Christian McCaffrey in the backfield for three games. But it’s hard not to look at Rhule’s comments and not come to the conclusion that Bridgewater’s future is bleak.