Win or lose, the Carolina Panthers had shockingly little to play for yesterday afternoon against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They couldn’t affect their own draft position (6th overall) and they could barely move the needle on the Bucs playoff plans. All they really had as motivation was pride and, uh, welp.
Pride, consistency, progress. These were not the hallmarks of the Panthers 2021 season. Nothing seemed to come together according to anybody’s plans and there is currently no clear indication of what plans, precisely, are being laid next.
The weekend began with an explosion of reporting that Matt Rhule’s job was safe for the next year.