4 winners and 4 losers from the Carolina Panthers 2021 season

Matt Rhule – Carolina Panthers HC

In year two of being Carolina Panthers head coach, Matt Rhule was an utter disaster.

After finishing his first season 5-11 with moments of promise and hope, Rhule’s team finished the season on a seven-game losing streak and never looked the same after a 3-0 start to the year.

Rhule is now 10-23 in two seasons with the Panthers and he fired three more assistant coaches on Tuesday. It seems likely that the former Baylor man will be given one more year to try and turn things around, but this campaign didn’t give fans any hope.

It would take too long to try and run down all the mistakes he made this year. Most notably, Rhule was outcoached not only by his predecessor Ron Rivera when facing the Washington Football Team but looked clueless in many games.

Rhule tried playing multiple quarterbacks in a single game, threw Cam Newton under the bus a few times, and saw his team get worse each week instead of better.

In training camp, Rhule’s motto for the team was “don’t beat ourselves”. That DBO motto ended up becoming a laughing stock as it seemed this was all they did – whether it was from the offensive line, quarterback play, or allowing big gains.

Rhule won’t be able to regain any trust from this Panthers fanbase anytime soon. The only thing he can do is try and win next year, or else he’ll be out of town.