The Carolina Panthers lost 29-3 at home to the Atlanta Falcons last week, and thanks to that no-good, terrible, awful display our FanPulse users have all but given up on any hope that the Panthers will be able to turn things around and make something of this season. I honestly can’t say that I blame them.
I mean... just look at that nose dive. Fan confidence fell from 47 percent to a measly 5 percent after last week’s loss. In case you haven’t been keeping score, that’s the lowest it’s been all season.
I’ve tried to be positive but I don’t think even I can do that anymore. The Panthers lost — at home — to a team that was 2-7 heading into the game. And they didn’t just lose: They never stood a chance at winning that game. I know that divisional games can get weird but my goodness, I didn’t expect to see something like that.
The Week 11 loss isn’t the sole reason I’m losing faith in this team though. I mean, teams lose games like that all the time. My issue is that not only did they lose to a 2-7 team, but that was one of their ‘easy’ games left on the schedule. The rest of their schedule is pretty scary, to be honest, and I just don’t see this Panthers team as it’s currently built being able to win more than three games for the rest of the season.
Panthers remaining 2019 schedule
Week 12 — at New Orleans Saints
Week 13 — vs Washington
Week 14 — at Atlanta Falcons
Week 15 — vs Seattle Seahawks
Week 16 — at Indianapolis Colts
Week 17 — vs New Orleans Saints
Do you see the Panthers winning the five or six games they’ll need to eke out a Wild Card spot? I hate saying this, but I don’t. Sure, anything is possible, but I don’t see them winning more than two of those games. I think they’ll beat Washington (of course I thought they’d beat the Falcons too, so who knows at this point), and I think they’ll steal a win back from the Falcons in Atlanta because Panthers-Falcons is always bat-shit crazy. But I don’t see them beating the Saints, I don’t see them beating the Seahawks and I don’t see them beating the Colts.
For the Panthers to have a real shot at the playoffs, they have to win a minimum of five of their final six games. They won’t make the playoffs at 8-8 or 9-7, so 10-6 is the bare minimum record they have to achieve. I would even argue that they won’t make the playoffs at 10-6, and it’s even possible that because of tiebreakers they wouldn’t get in at 11-5 (I haven’t looked at playoff scenarios so I could be wrong on this).
I’m writing a lot of words to say this: The Panthers’ season is pretty much over, and you have every right to have no confidence in this team or its direction. David Tepper recently said that he won’t tolerate ‘long-term mediocrity’, and Ron Rivera agreed with those remarks (though I wish he’d coach like he agreed with it). I guess we’ll see if they really mean that or if it’s nothing more than a worthless platitude to sell the fanbase on ‘making things better’.
What do you think, Panthers fans? Do you think the Panthers have any hope of making the playoffs, or should we start talking about the draft? Share your thoughts with us!
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