3 pivotal matchups that will decide Carolina Panthers game vs. Vikings in Week 4

Carolina Panthers OL vs. Itself

The broken record is playing once again for the Carolina Panthers.

To say that the Panthers' offensive line was a disappointment in Week 3 would be the understatement of the century. It was a nightmare.

It is looking more and more like Ikem Ekwonu could be embarking on a sophomore slump. Slotting rookie Chandler Zavala into the void left by Brady Christenson at the left guard position has been met with less-than-stellar results.

If it wasn't a false start, it was a quarterback pressure on a play where anyone along the offensive line did their best revolving door impression.

The team had eight false starts in Week 3. While the crowd noise in Seattle is well documented, there is no excuse for a starting caliber offensive line to have that many lapses. Especially for one player to account for half of them as Ekwonu had four all by himself.

All of this happened against a team that had a grand total of two sacks going into Week 3. A total that was more than doubled.

To put this into perspective, the Minnesota Vikings have one player with as many sacks as the Seahawks. Danielle Hunter.

Conservatively, this will be a slaughter along the protection if the same continues. More aptly, this will be an extremely long day for Panthers fans and whichever quarterback is under center.

The Panthers once again have to fix their offensive line. But there isn't anything that can be done at this point as injuries have taken hold of a promising start.