After 12 games, the Carolina Panthers are pretty much who we thought they would be coming into this season. Despite having a lot of young playmakers with potential on the roster, this team still has plenty of room to grow before they’re ready to compete for a playoff seed.
Sunday’s excruciating 28-27 loss to the Minnesota Vikings dropped their record on the year to 4-8. It also bumped them down a few more spots in Touchdown Wire’s Week 12 power rankings. Here’s what Mark Schofield had to say about Carolina’s upsetting fourth-quarter collapse in Minneapolis.
“The Panthers squandered an 11-point lead in the second half, with the Vikings scoring 15 of the final 21 points in the game to edge Carolina by just one point. After getting out to that 24-13 lead with just under 12 minutes left, the Panthers managed a punt, a field goal and a missed game-winning field goal try on their final three possessions.”
Kicker Joey Slye missed the 54-yard field goal that could have won the game and Teddy Bridgewater’s performance was extremely disappointing. That said, this loss falls on the coaches more than anyone else. Offensive coordinator Joe Brady’s play-calling was mostly tepid and predictable, defensive coordinator Phil Snow admits he should have rushed more on Minnesota’s final drive and coach Matt Rhule took the blame afterwards.
The bye week should give this team plenty of time to evaluate what’s gone wrong over the last three months and chart a course for December that will allow them to salvage some dignity and put together something to build on in 2021. A realistic goal would be finishing 2-2 down the stretch, which would put them at 6-10, matching our preseason prediction.
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