Panthers HC Dave Canales isn’t in an easy position.
After a pair of positive performances—one a dominant win against the Las Vegas Raiders and the other a competitive defeat to the Cincinnati Bengals—the Carolina Panthers turned out an embarrassing showing in their 36-10 loss to the Chicago Bears this past Sunday. The outing lacked complementary football and discipline, and felt like a setback of sorts.
This weekend’s offering, however, did not lack questions—some of which point back to the coaching staff. While fans may be especially miffed over losing to the team that “fleeced” theirs in their massively consequential trade for last year’s No. 1 overall pick, the frustration is fair—and it starts with head coach Dave Canales.
The first-time head coach made his intentions of establishing the run quite clear this offseason. In fact, he stated that he was “excited” to show how stubborn he could be in doing so.
His philosophy has broken through at times. Carolina’s offense seemingly has quite a strength in running back Chuba Hubbard, whose 393 rushing yards currently rank fifth in the NFL.
But if Hubbard received more than just 13 carries in Chicago? He certainly warranted it after dicing up the Bears defense for 97 yards and a touchdown, no?
Canales’ play-calling or play choices in certain situations have been inconsistent in three of the Panthers’ four losses. His “stubbornness” to run the football has not been there at times.
Yes, Carolina has been forced to throw the ball more often than not in these situations—but that doesn’t mean they should be moving off what was working. He did make some fair points about not being able to convert the third-and-manageable, which are third downs with about five to six yards or less to go from moving the chains.
There were, though, times at the beginning of drives when the Panthers would lean into the passing game to find an explosive play. The Bears were a man-heavy team Sunday, and blanketed outlets for quarterback Andy Dalton.
Again, it’s more than understandable to throw the ball when down multiple scores, but there were too many missed opportunities for that inflexibility to lend itself to the running game.
The offense should’ve stuck with what was working—the ground attack. The offensive line was consistently creating rushing lanes for Hubbard, who picked up chunk yards touch after touch.
Canales also garnered some heat for his decision to play backup quarterback Bryce Young in the waning moments of the contest. His reasoning for the move was to protect Dalton from an offensive line that got battered with injuries in the second half.
“We had a couple of injuries on the offensive line and wanted to get [Young] there to get some live reps, and he did a fantastic job,” Canales said. “Playing with energy, extending plays, and finding some completions down the field. It’s a hard situation, but at that point, with the different things happening on the offensive line, you know, I wanted to get Andy out of there.”
While Canales did clarify his statement on Monday, it put the team’s quarterback situation back in the forefront—especially after Young flashed in the final offensive series.
As a first-time head coach and second-year play-caller in the NFL, Canales is in a very difficult spot. He is navigating a roster that is both depleted of talent and dealing with long-term injuries to standout players while bearing the responsibility of putting his offense in the right position to succeed.
Canales must work to find a balance as a coach and play-caller. And there may come a time when he hands the latter title to offensive coordinator Brad Idzik.
But for now, even in some rough waters, he’ll stay the course.
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