4 primary factors behind Carolina Panthers incredible Week 7 turnaround

Carolina Panthers have Steve Wilks

Let’s be honest here, Steve Wilks has been put in an impossible position to replace Matt Rhule, who left an ungodly mess behind. His life will be made continually harder with the Carolina Panthers likely trading more pieces before the deadline, focusing on giving unproven players a chance.

Wilks is viewed as a placeholder seemingly by the majority of his fanbase and the team’s owner. But his presence as interim head coach is giving everyone a huge lift at an important time.

The former Arizona Cardinals head coach deserves immense credit considering what he’s had to deal with. Wilks watched a sideline meltdown from Robbie Anderson and ongoing speculation surrounding Christian McCaffrey resulting in both being traded, but even that didn’t seem to bother the experienced figure, who masterminded Carolina’s best performance of the campaign in Week 7.

To say it was a rough first week on the job would be a vast understatement, Wilks took it in stride and put together a great game plan against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Carolina weathered losing their star running back and was clearly the best team on Sunday when Brady was standing on the opposing sideline. Wilks may not be the long-term answer, but just as much energy as Panthers fans put into criticizing Rhule should be allocated to giving the interim due credit.