Matt Rhule’s magic Year 3 with the Carolina Panthers
After the Carolina Panthers lost 12 of their final 14 games, many thought head coach Matt Rhule would be relieved of his duties after the 2021 season. However, the former Baylor man was always confident he’d be around for another season at least and this was justified after team owner David Tepper gave him the benefit of the doubt.
This decision to keep Rhule did not sit well with large sections of the fanbase who wanted a change in direction. But the high morale within the locker room and Tepper’s unrivaled faith in his guy likely played leading roles in standing pat.
Expectations will be higher for Rhule next time around. His rebuilding programs in college normally made significant strides in Year 3 and Tepper will be expecting the same with the Panthers in 2022.
As stated previously, everything is now in position for Rhule. There are also no more excuses for a man who’s thrown most scapegoats under the bus over the last two seasons.
Not many are expecting the Panthers to make great shakes given their strength of schedule, questions within multiple positional groups, and the fact we don’t know whether Rhule is capable of becoming a competent NFL head coach.
If Rhule cannot turn things around in the coming months, then that might be enough for Tepper to end this experiment way ahead of time.