Monday Morning Thoughts: A Change is Needed

Where do I begin?

It's five weeks into the 2022 season, the third year of Matt Rhule's tenure as head coach, and there are a lot of uncomfortable feelings floating around Bank of America Stadium. Week after week the fans are booing by halftime, at least those that actually attended the game as fans of the home team. And week after week the Panthers fail to have a solution to any of the several issues that plague them.

The wait in the press conference room was just about as uncomfortable as it gets as Rhule's wife and children sat in the back waiting to see Matt walk through the double doors and up to the podium. Typically after a game, Matt makes his way in about 5-10 minutes after the room has filled up. On Sunday night it felt like an eternity. Only one thing was on the mind of everyone in that room and that was whether or not Rhule would be walking to the podium still holding the title of head coach of the Carolina Panthers.

Many of the questions directed toward Rhule were about the game but toward the end of the presser, he was asked if he had any conversations with team owner David Tepper about his job security.

"I hope you guys can understand, I've always been very forthright with you. I have nothing to say about that now. I'm really just here to talk about the game today. I would never want to make this about me."

So, for now, Matt Rhule remains the head coach of the Panthers but for how long? Three of the next four on the schedule consist of dates with the Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Cincinnati Bengals. For a team that has lost eleven of the last twelve dating back to last year, it doesn't feel like a turnaround is imminent.

How long will the locker room remain together?

As things stand now, the players have Rhule’s back and a handful of the guys that spoke with the media went to bat for Rhule, including Christian McCaffrey and Baker Mayfield.

"We're fine in that locker room when it comes to that," Mayfield said. "There's a lot of plays that we just have to flat-out make. He can't do that. He can't go make plays for us. He can't do the execution for us. There's one-on-ones, we have good players. We just have to make plays."

"You can say what you want about him but I've been around a lot of coaches and he's somebody that's always had my back," stated McCaffrey. "You work hard, you do the right thing, he'll have your back...and that means something, for what it's worth. I'm pissed that we can't get it done for him and for the rest of our staff. We need to play better as players.

"There's a lot of criticisms with Coach Rhule that bother me and of our coaching staff, in general, that bother me. I believe players win games and if players win games, players lose games. We gotta make plays. We gotta execute."

At some point though, something has to come out of the "I've got to go back and watch the tape" responses that not only Rhule but several of the players give on a daily basis. It's mid-October and there seems to be no end in sight when it comes to the team's offensive struggles, especially when they are unable to identify what is going wrong.

When the same problems pop up, you're going to get the same questions each and every week. That in and of itself is a true indicator of where this organization is - stuck. Despite having a healthy Christian McCaffrey, a much improved offensive line and special teams unit to go along with an already stout defense, the results remain the same.

The players point the finger at themselves, as they should, but it's not entirely on them. Something isn't working and it hasn't worked for two-plus seasons. There is way too much talent on this roster for it to be not only sitting at 1-4 but to get beat like a drum as they did against San Francisco.

The fans made their decision on Rhule a long time ago and never really connected with the head coach from the beginning. A lot of that could be traced back to the pandemic where fans weren't allowed anywhere near the team in his first season at the helm. For Matt, he wasn't able to go out into the community and appear at charitable events or anything of that nature. When you don't really know a coach and that coach has very little success, it's hard to establish that connection.

Matt is a very genuine, down-to-earth dude that loves football and loves being the head coach of the Carolina Panthers. But at the end of the day, it's a results-oriented business and if the results aren't there, well, you know the deal. Should Tepper choose to not make a coaching change ahead of next week's game against Los Angeles, Rhule and the rest of the coaching staff will need to do everything they can to find some solutions and douse the fire that surrounds them.

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