Do you really want to be here? If you’re a fan, how important is this game to you?

All NFL fans need to consider that question at various points anyway. But it is especially important that Panthers fans each consider this topic.

It is to the detriment of the Carolina Panthers that the fans cannot be fired and will not voluntarily leave. The moments of frustration such as these days will be repealed by the hard work of the organization. But not if the team ignores the inevitability of human struggle. It seems allowable to fail only in certain circumstances in our careers. But if we are to allow ourselves to fail, and even embrace it, then it is good to share the right to fail with others as well. This is even more important when we share the same goals.

Matt Rhule is only in his third season. And it is only at the beginning of such a season at that. This is including the ridiculous notion that the 2020 season should be put up for consideration for any laborer’s failures, given it was during a time when working any job at all was better than what half of the stupidest country on Earth was doing at the time. For that, I appreciate Matt Rhule for not being a welfare drama queen from that time. I shouldn’t have to include the disclaimer that some people on welfare need/deserve it. But since Panthers fans are overreacting to the current hard times of the day, they will probably overreact to anything written online anyway.

Don’t worry. I promise to give Panthers fans a chance to get angry. It’s coming.

Now, with Matt Rhule in his unofficial second season, I see some signs of life. With the amazing number of stupid mistakes made by him, his players, the owner, the referees, the local media, and the fans, the team still is a heartbeat short of a 2-0 start. That means the Carolina Panthers are ever so close to being the Cardiac Cats. This is a major improvement from where the team stood two years ago and last year even if it seems not to be so. With all of the mistakes, there must have been enough great things about the team to overcome them and make the scores so close. If nothing else, the refusal for the Carolina Panthers to be quitters with Matt Rhule at the helm is a promising aspect.

Let’s move on to one of the many problems with the Carolina Panthers. The fanbase wants everyone fired at all times. This is a quitter culture and a loser culture. They say who they want but not what they want. "Well I want to win!" The Buffalo Bills have room on their bandwagon then. There’s no such thing as a population surplus for the Bills, Steelers, Patriots, Bucs, Rams, Chiefs, and Packers. You’re free to enjoy the game any way you like. But if you’re just going to try to get people fired, take your Donald Trump nonsense and ask politely for Ron DeSantis to deport you to a sanctuary city. The Panthers don’t need a complaint department. It’s a game. If you can’t have fun with it, feel free to get into politics.

The Carolina fanbase does not allow room for failure and seems to believe that a permanent supply of great coaches will be present no matter what. There will always be great coaching candidates looking for a job in the NFL. That is true. The problem is that they will not be looking hard enough to sign with a team destined to lose.

When fans want the coach replaced in the middle of the season, or to rest their best players to preserve their trade value, so as to collect a better draft pick, they are stupidly calling on the team to lose intentionally. If I was a tyrannical dictator, I would hold prisons for such people and require lobotomies for all of the inmates. It is nauseating to listen to idiots argue for losing a team into success. The reward never outweighs the cost. Yes, a team can lose and rebound quickly. The Panthers did that. But the team didn’t lose the 2001 season on purpose. They were losing close games and became discouraged.

The Panthers lost games on purpose in 2010, a season after the 2009 campaign featured a painful inconsistency of football. Therefore, the Panthers did draft the quarterback of the future, Cam Newton. The team struggled from 2009-2012. That is four seasons of bad football with one season sabotaged by the office. That one season alone nearly cost Rivera his job in the beginning of his first playoff season (2013). He too started 0-2. Fans were wrong to call for his job in those days. The same types of fans are wrong almost ten years later.

To those fans: Go away already. Your advice sucks. Your support sucks. Find something else to do. If you need to remove someone from their job, there’s a whole street in Washington DC full of losers who won’t leave either. Go to them. You’d fit perfectly, being just as useless as they are.

But if you are going to remain a Panthers fan, then change. Supporting the team means cheering for them even when it is difficult to see how the team can win. Cheering for the underdog shouldn’t be that difficult to do. Americans are raised on this concept. It doesn’t take a lot to change our attitude. But it does a make a lot to have the power to change. So empower yourselves to be better instead of bitter.