Good, Bad, Ugly of the Carolina Panthers 2020 Season

The 2020 season was filled with a lot of ups and downs for the Carolina Panthers and first-year head coach Matt Rhule. Probably more bad than good, but there are some things to be excited about. Today, we take a look back at the good, bad, and ugly of the 2020 season.

Good

Expectations coming into the season for the Panthers were rather low. Many said that two-three wins would be the most this team got, yet they finished 5-11 and could have very easily won a few more.

Despite not having running back Christian McCaffrey for 13 games, Carolina hung in with some of the league's best teams and battled to the very end week after week. The Panthers' offense was not the same and maybe not as potent as they would have liked but Carolina finished the season with four players crossing the 1,000-yard mark in scrimmage yards - RB Mike Davis, WR Robby Anderson, WR DJ Moore, and WR Curtis Samuel.

On the other side of the ball, it was the young guys who stepped up and elevated the defense's play toward the end of the season. Rookies Jeremy Chinn and Derrick Brown and second-year edge rusher Brian Burns all had fantastic seasons which gives the Panthers a solid core to build around for the future.

Bad

Very few knew what the Panthers were going to get out of Teddy Bridgewater as a starting quarterback. He went 5-0 in his five starts with the New Orleans Saints in 2019 but let's face it, he was surrounded with far better talent. Although he was not in the most ideal situation, he seemed to regress from about the middle portion of the season on. He began forcing throws into tight windows, held onto the ball too long, and his arm strength just wasn't as good as it was early on. Bridgewater ended the year with 15 touchdowns and 11 interceptions but threw three of those picks in the red zone and two of them in the end zone. Carolina also had several chances to either tie the game or win it with the ball in their hands at the end of games but Bridgewater was unable to lead them to victory.

Defensively, defending the pass became a major problem for Phil Snow's unit. This was to be expected considering the lack of depth and experience the Panthers had in the secondary. Drew Brees, Tom Brady, and Matt Ryan carved up the Carolina defense for a combined 1,553 yards, nine touchdowns, and three INT, completing 69% of their passes.

Ugly

The offensive line was abysmal at times this past season and a lot of the blame for the lack of a passing attack could be placed on the shoulders of the big guys upfront. Teddy Bridgewater was not given much of a chance to succeed due to the amount of pressure that was constantly in his face, and the rushing attack never found any consistency thanks to a lack of holes opened up by the line. Right tackle Taylor Moton was the lone bright spot on the season but he is set to hit free agency this offseason. Carolina's No. 1 priority must be to get Moton re-signed.

The other really rough spot on the Panthers' roster is at tight end. Not only did Ian Thomas and Chris Manhertz underperform in the passing game but did not block all that well either. The two combined for only 26 receptions for 197 yards, and two touchdowns. No one expected either of these guys to fill right in and be the next Greg Olsen but this isn't going to cut it. Carolina has to have a big body receiver that can make catches in the middle of the field that draws attention away from the guys on the outside.

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