What were some critical observations as the Carolina Panthers fell to the Minnesota Vikings at home in Week 4, slipping to 0-4 on the season?
In what was a must-win game in the battle of the 0-3 teams, the Minnesota Vikings got a much-needed triumph to get their season started. Once again, Carolina Panthers’ fans showed just what they thought of the team with boos heard early and often.
Frankly, this game was synonymous with what we’ve seen in recent years with the Panthers. Facing a high-powered offense, the Vikings were held to just 139 passing yards and Ejiro Evero’s unit became the first in 2023 to hold the league's best wide receiver Justin Jefferson to under 100 receiving yards.
While the run defense is still a concern, it was positive to see such a banged-up secondary step up. However, on the other side of the ball, we saw more of the offensive ineptitude that has plagued the Panthers.
This was arguably Bryce Young’s best game so far this season as he went 25-for-32 for 204 passing yards and a 93.2 passer rating. But a crucial fumble in the second half saw Minnesota take a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.
Although we’re only heading into Week 5, the pressure is already ramping up on Frank Reich. It seems that despite drafting Young, this so-called all-star staff seems to have little to no trust in the player - while last week we saw Andy Dalton given much more freedom to make deep throws.
But without further ado, let’s take a look at four critical observations from the Panthers’ reverse against the Vikings.
Carolina Panthers OT Ikem Ekwomu’s regression
After a rookie campaign filled with immense promise, the sophomore slump so far from Ikem Ekwonu is starting to become a serious concern. The signs were there in preseason as the left tackle was getting beaten regularly and while many hoped these issues would be ironed out in the regular season, this has not been the case.
With the loss of both starting guards, we’ve seen the offensive line as a whole regress and Ekwonu has done so significantly. The left side of the line is currently a real weakness with the North Carolina State pair failing to provide the consistency needed.
The game on Sunday swung with another critical Ekwonu penalty, which followed on from his disaster at the Seattle Seahawks where he had four false start penalties. Something the former first-round selection has to clean up moving forward.
Many touted the partnership of Ekwonu and Chandler Zavala as the future for the Carolina Panthers simply because they’d played six games together with the Wolfpack in 2021 despite the interior presence having not played a single NFL snap. That looks iffy at best through four weeks.
What has since transpired is Zavala has been the Panthers’ weakest lineman and Ekwonu has gone downhill. It seems the edge protector is suffering without Brady Christensen next to him - a player many fans were calling to be replaced.
With veteran right guard Austin Corbett now eligible to return from the Physically Unable to Perform List, the Panthers’ must consider slotting him in at left guard - a position he has played before on the Cleveland Browns.
Carolina Panthers HC Frank Reich's seat is heating up
This seems crazy to say just four weeks into the regular season, but the Carolina Panthers have been borderline unwatchable under Frank Reich's leadership. For what it’s worth, it’s unlikely that the head coach will be fired at all this season regardless of how the next 13 weeks pan out, but the pressure should certainly be on.
One thing that should happen soon is that Reich needs to relinquish play-calling duties and let his offensive coordinator Thomas Brown unleash his philosophy learned from Sean McVay, one of the league’s best coaches. After a preseason of vanilla play calling, fans were assured the playbook would be opened up in the regular season. Outside the first 10 scripted plays, this is not the case.
The Panthers’ offensive plays seem painfully predictable, with two inside zone runs usually to Miles Sanders for little to no gain, and then a wide receiver screen to Adam Thielen, usually resulting in a three-and-out. Considering Carolina drafted Bryce Young at No. 1 overall, they seem strangely hesitant to let the player throw past the line of scrimmage.
It seemed for most of the game against the Minnesota Vikings we heard Young shouting “kill” pre-snap to change from the play given by Reich. It also seemed this was the first time the signal-caller was on multiple occasions visibly frustrated.
We also saw comical scenes in the Panthers' post-game press conference as Reich admitted he called a play in the fourth quarter that could only go to Adam Thielen despite the wideout not even being on the field. We didn’t even see this level of ineptitude from Matt Rhule and fans are understandably growing tired.
Miles Sanders may need to relinquish Carolina Panthers RB1 status
Fans were understandably excited when the Carolina Panthers acquired Miles Sanders. After a Pro Bowl season and a trip to the Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles, he was expected to be a key part of this new offense.
Coming off almost 1,300 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns, expectations were high. But through four games, the running back has been an immense disappointment.
Sanders has just 158 rushing yards and a single touchdown to date, averaging just 2.9 yards per carry. Sunday was arguably his worst performance with 13 carries for just 19 rushing yards.
While some blame can be placed on an offensive line that creates little push - especially on the interior - there’s been a severe lack of burst from Sanders. This suggests he is potentially still being troubled by the groin injury that hampered him in preseason.
Chuba Hubbard was finally given meaningful touches against the Minnesota Vikings. After nine carries for 60 rushing yards in Week 1, the former fourth-round pick accumulated just three over the next two weeks before getting more involved with 14 carries for 41 yards and displaying much more burst and gap discipline than his teammate.
If the former Penn State star is nursing a groin issue, it’d be wise for the Panthers to let him rest and give Hubbard the bulk of the carries. They have a more than adequate RB3 in Raheem Blackshear, who has for some reason been cast aside by the coaching staff so far.
Hubbard has long been the scapegoat of some fans, mainly for the story that he was only drafted by Carolina because ex-head coach Matt Rhule's’ wife told him to. But he has proved to be a more than viable NFL running back and could easily be the Panthers’ best rusher currently.
Carolina Panthers secondary deserves immense credit
Coming into this game many were concerned about what the Minnesota Vikings' high-powered passing offense would do to a Carolina Panthers' secondary decimated by injury. Missing two key starters in Jaycee Horn and Xavier Woods left the prospect of a Julio Jones-esque performance from Justin Jefferson, but what transpired was almost the complete opposite.
After starting cornerback Donte Jackson made his usual trip to the blue medical tent early, this left the trio of Troy Hill, C.J. Henderson, and D’Shawn Jamison to hold down the fort - they did so immensely. The Vikings ended the game with just 135 passing yards and Jefferson - despite getting in the end-zone twice - was held under 100 receiving yards for the first time this season.
Jamison mostly deserves immense credit. An undrafted free agent rookie standing just 5-foot-9 matching up with the phenom that is Jefferson and holding him under 100 yards is excellent work.
The Panthers didn’t get much right it seems this offseason, but claiming Jamison off waivers from the San Francisco 49ers seems to be a positive move. We even saw a great highlight from the player as he laid a huge block on Vikings QB Kirk Cousins.
A quick word on Jackson. Anyone who reads my work or follows me on X/Twitter knows I’m far from his biggest fan. And every week the decision to extend him by general manager Scott Fitterer looks to be a terrible one as the player is never healthy or reliable.
Jackson missed most of the game with a shoulder injury. At this point, it may be worth the Panthers just cutting their losses with the former second-round pick by trying to flip him for a late-round draft pick.
Either way, the time of depending on Jackson is over.