5 Carolina Panthers losses that hurt the most in 2021

Carolina Panthers loss at the Dolphins in Week 12

Despite how their season had gone, the Carolina Panthers had managed to win five games and was still in the wildcard race as they entered Week 12 at the Miami Dolphins. Brian Flores’ men were dealing with an ugly start of their own and debate was still raging around whether Tua Tagovailoa should be the starting quarterback long-term.

A team in turmoil that would fire their head coach as soon as the season ended not only beat the Panthers, they blew them out.

This is the first game that the defense truly just looked beaten. They had spent so much energy trying to keep their team in games, this was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

Cam Newton looked truly awful in this game and P.J. Walker was no better. The two quarterbacks combined for three interceptions and couldn’t beat an underwhelming Dolphins team.

Allowing Tagovailoa and the Dolphins to not only beat you but win in such a convincing fashion speaks to poor coaching and the issues Carolina has at the quarterback position.

The play-calling in this game was unforgivable and did little to help Newton, who was attempting to learn a complete offense. The former NFL MVP had only been in this system for three weeks and the decisions from Joe Brady betrayed that fact.