Speculation Is Swirling That The Panthers May Fire Matt Rhule VERY Soon After Yet Another Ugly Loss

Matt Fitzgerald10/10/2022 12:25 AM

I'm still pretty new, are we even allowed to cite PFT as a source of rumor? Is that, like, schticking a schtick where it shouldn't be schtuck? Oh well fuck it. Sorry, Barstool PFT, if this offends — and also sorry about the Commanders, if it's any consolation from someone you don't know. And to you too, Nate. You deserve better on the eve of your birthday. I remembered.

Anyway, credible-enough report here. "When" not "if" is the latest on Matt Rhule's job status. NGL, I had to go back in and edit that, had it reversed on first pass. WHOOPS.

With postgame quotes like these, I can hardly blame Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper for thinking about immediate action, even though Tepper trusted Rhule with a gargantuan contract in the first place:

Darin Gantt is a Panthers team reporter so I'm taking what he's quoting as the stone-cold truth. I don't feel like watching Matt Rhule at the podium because frankly it's depressing.

Look at Rhule trying to cite analytics as a reason for kicking a field goal despite trailing 30-12, with less than seven minutes remiaing in an eventual 37-15 home loss to the 49ers:

Then again, if you look at the quarterback play Rhule has been saddled with during his Panthers tenure, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who could win with that platoon of mediocrity to downright dreadfulness. I don't even feel like naming them all. For fuck's sake. It's embarrassing. Maybe Rhule thought making the final score look a little prettier and making it a two-possession game at any cost was preferable to watching his offense piss their collective pants again.

Baker Mayfield is giving me flashbacks to Johnny Manziel in Cleveland. Whatever I thought the worst-case scenario was going in, the reality ended up being several — I repeat, SEVERAL — levels beyond what I could've possibly imagined.

Baker sucks. Marty Mush is still out here trying to defend him with his piss-poor writing ability and basic-bitch analysis.

Call a spade a spade, bro. I don't even need to back up my take with any numbers either. You don't bother to. Oh wait. How about the worst passer rating in the NFL? I think that'll suffice.

Giphy Images.

This coming from a guy who was hyping the Panthers as a sleeper team throughout the preseason, because I foolishly thought Baker would be, at least, a top-17 or 18 QB. Hell, if he was even top-20, Carolina would have a real chance to be 4-1 instead of 1-4 with that defense. Alas, not the reality. I've abandoned ship EARLY. And there's no reason not to. All the elite defense in the world can't mask how offensively deficient Baker and Co. are — even with a healthy Christian McCaffrey.

Yowza. Anyway, whatever the QB situation has been, the Panthers haven't gotten it right during Rhule's tenure, and even though I didn't initially loathe the hiring of Ben McAdoo as offensive coordinator at first, in retrospect, that's the most numb-skulled play-caller Rhule could've possibly brought aboard. This man coaches the NFL game for a living. Should know better than to not vet McAdoo. Turns out, McAdoo has emphatically not evolved since he flamed out as the Giants' head coach, and modern offensive schematics have passed him by.

Just fire Matt Rhule. Rip off the Band-Aid. Send him to Lincoln, Nebraska, to get the Cornhuskers back on track. We know Rhule can build a college program. Didn't work in the NFL. Not the first man to fail to translate from the collegiate ranks to the professional level.