5 reasons the Carolina Panthers should fire head coach Matt Rhule
By Noah Bryce
Carolina Panthers have no energy
Every Carolina Panthers fan could see just how much life Cam Newton’s return gave the team and the fanbase alike. The former MVP electrified everyone with his “I’m Back” moment against the Arizona Cardinals and looked primed to lead the franchise into the sunset.
That energy carried over into a Week 11 loss to the Washington Football Team and even with that heartbreaking ending, there were good enough signs to give Panthers fans hope at things to come.
Sadly the team wasn’t able to capitalize on that energy and just about completely negated it.
A theme this year has been the Panthers getting discouraged and down in the dumps when anything happened to them. Whether that be a bad play, turnover, or a game that seemed to be lost.
There is no motivation for this team to keep going, their body language alone says it all. Just look at how the players react when something goes wrong. Hung heads and sideline shouting matches don’t win football games.
A true coach will rally the troops, circle the wagons, get his players back into the game and make sure they fight until that last whistle blows. Something the Panthers have never shown the ability to do under Matt Rhule’s guidance.
A loving hand will only get you so far, at some point a coach has to get in the face of his players and call them out for the whole world to see.
This team looked defeated before the fourth quarter even started and that showed. Players slowly walked to the line and were putting in nowhere near their maximum effort. Some of that blame lies on the players, yes, but a lot more lies on the coach not being able to get the best out of them.
The other side to this is how the team always manages to come out of halftime with zero enthusiasm or fire to compete leading to multiple blowout third quarters. The main job of the coach is to get his players fired up and feel like they can take on the world and Carolina just seems largely indifferent.
Mindset is key in every part of life and this team simply hasn’t had the right one since Rhule took over. That has to change.