The nice thing about going 6-9 following a 6-2 start, with one more likely loss on the horizon, is that the Carolina Panthers can’t reasonably be anything but honest with themselves. While reports suggest that Ron Rivera is safe after this disappointing year, there is no amount of sources that will convince me that he has the opportunity to be complacent.
The Panthers were bad this year, in spite of all of their potential. They were bad because they had noticeable talent gaps at crucial positions. We can dredge up some holiday banality to say that every player and every position on the team is important, but we can’t pretend that some guys aren’t more important than others.