3 winners and 3 losers from Carolina Panthers’ loss at the Bucs in Week 18
By Jason Huber
Matt Rhule – Carolina Panthers HC
This weekend was an interesting one regarding developments regarded the future of Matt Rhule.
On Saturday, ESPN reported what had been the idea the past couple of weeks that Rhule would be brought back for at least one more season as head coach of the Carolina Panthers. Sunday morning, it was reported that Rhule is eyeing former NFL head coaches Bill O’Brien and Jay Gruden as his possible new offensive coordinator.
Then, FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer said on the NFL pregame show that Rhule’s job isn’t completely safe and it depends on who he hires as offensive coordinator.
With all the rumors surrounding him, Rhule’s team came out fighting on Sunday. But in the end, they ended up getting blown out, and the heat remains his job status.
Rhule’s worst moment against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came in the second quarter when it was fourth-and-inches, and instead of using Cam Newton, arguably the greatest rushing quarterback in NFL history, to get the first down, he allowed Sam Darnold to attempt it on a sneak, and he failed.
For all the talk of using multiple quarterbacks the past few weeks, that would have been the one time where Rhule should have done it, and he didn’t.
It remains to be seen what Rhule’s future in Carolina looks like. But he is now 10-23 in his two seasons coaching the team and things have to change in some fashion.