The Carolina Panthers are circling the drain after losing their third consecutive game and fifth overall this season against the Denver Broncos.
Week 9's game was marred by penalties, controversy, and the same suspects along the offensive line who allowed a game-winning strip-sack of quarterback Bryce Young in the final 90 seconds. However, much of the frustration falls on head coach Dave Canales.
Canales had a chance to be tough toward the officiating. Instead, he took a steadier approach, showing little conviction on egregious no-calls, and his personality may be getting in the way of the Panthers becoming a better football team.
Dave Canales' approach is starting to rub some Carolina Panthers fans the wrong way
This is the type of coach Canales has always been.
He brings a steady, positive attitude that will leak into the organization and how the program operates. In many ways, it can be useful and bring a team together, as it has for the Panthers in the past.
However, that attitude can rub the wrong way when things get ugly. The last three games have brought out the ugliest sides of the Panthers, bringing back memories of 2023 and the last eight years of losing records.
Fans have a right to feel how they feel right now.
They're frustrated, angry, ticked off — any adjective you could think of for how they may feel about the Panthers. They feel they got screwed out of a win because of the momentum-changing interception that shouldn't have happened.
And when they hear the head coach talk in a way that rarely hints at criticism or honesty about the officiating, spinning it into a positive outlook for the team, that simply won't land for a coach who is beginning to receive significant scrutiny.
All while almost doubling down from Sunday's post-game press conference.
Dave Canales is under increasing pressure to get the Carolina Panthers back on track
Canales just fired defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero. His team is on a three-game losing streak. He handed off play-calling duties, and in some cases, that's cost Carolina games.
He now oversees the team in a CEO-type role, focusing on high-leverage, pressure situations where the Panthers remain underwhelming.
This doesn't even touch the discipline issues, where the Panthers are among the league leaders in penalties and penalty yards conceded.
However, no one is saying the Panthers should fire Canales, and I don't expect him to unless there is a total collapse.
In fairness, he is coaching a team decimated by injuries at cornerback, offensive line, and edge rusher this season. His team is 3-5 and leading the NFC South, with a favorable schedule coming up and players returning from the injured reserve list.
Carolina is far from being out of the hunt, and they still have a chance to capitalize in a bad division. Canales has played a key role in keeping the team steady, as Panthers writer Kassidy Hill wrote on Monday.
Furthermore, I don't have an issue with Canales as a coach or his personality, even when it rubs the wrong people the wrong way who want a strict, tough-nosed person at the helm.
The gripe about his personality is, in some ways, frivolous. We see the players fight for Canales, and that speaks to who he is as a coach behind closed doors.
Fans will only see how he reacts in the moment and afterward, which hasn’t matched the big emotions and the in-game fight. That’s an unavoidable disconnect.
The conversations must be had here. Fans want honesty and less gaslighting on subjects such as controversial penalties or no penalties in games like Sunday's game against the Broncos.
Canales must be better, for his sake, the Panthers' sake, and for the people rooting for the franchise.
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