Panthers are wasting another opportunity to change their narrative and need a wake-up call before it’s too late
The Carolina Panthers still lead the NFC South after nine weeks despite dropping three straight games, but the team’s cushion is starting to become razor thin and it’s time to wake up.
The Carolina Panthers have dropped three straight games and fallen to 3-5 on the season. This team looks lifeless right now, even after keeping Sunday’s game close against the Denver Broncos. Yet, the Panthers remain in first place in the division. Both things can be true when you play in the NFC South.
As things stand coming out of Week 9, the Panthers are tied atop the NFC South standings with the New Orleans Saints at 3-5, but have the tie-breaker advantage going for them. It’s eerily similar to the position the Panthers were in last year after winning the division title with a losing record, and not winning it on their terms.
This was supposed to be the season the Panthers changed their narrative. That they could be a team you better not overlook while cruising to a defining division title. Instead, the Panthers are stuck back in the same mud and are in serious need of a wake-up call.
Urgency should be at an all-time high for the Carolina Panthers
No one in the Panthers organization needs to be waking up on Monday feeling proud of themselves. This team does not deserve to be leading their division right now. It speaks more to the state of all four teams than it does to the Panthers being in this position. A message needs to be sent this week, and it needs to be a loud one.
“We have to take it one week at a time,” quarterback Bryce Young said after the game. “We know that we’re all competitors. We all play for each other. Of course hasn’t been the most fun stretch, but we’re in the middle of the season, there’s going to be ebbs and flows, we always have to have that next play, next day, next week mentality. And I’m super fortunate to be in a locker room like this, we’re competitors. . .
It doesn’t feel great right now, but they’re able to turn the page, able to flush it, and get back to work next week, so we’re excited for the opportunity.”
Next week is a big opportunity. The Panthers go on the road to face the same Saints team they’re tied with atop the NFC South standings. Carolina has lost three consecutive games in New Orleans with the last win coming in 2023.
Urgency needs to be at an all-time high for this team. And it’s on head coach Dave Canales to send that message. It should have been sent last week after the team fired defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero. Yet, self-inflicted mistakes still managed to kill this team, not the controversial events that also took place on Sunday.
“There’s plenty of stuff on tape that we could have done. We could have executed better, I could have executed better,” Young explained. “That’s all that we care about. Circumstances are circumstances. We didn’t do enough today, that’s what matters.”
Everything is still right in front of this team going into this week, and they need to act like it. No more sleep walking. It’s time to finally wake up.
