Getty Image / Grant Halverson
At the time of his hiring, Matt Rhule was supposed to be a home run hire for the Carolina Panthers. After all, he had walked into two impossible situations at Temple and Baylor and won big at both very quickly. His teams played smart, fundamental football and they were very clearly well-coached. The Panthers weren’t even the only team to want him, as the New York Giants were spurned by Rhule to go the Panthers instead.
Since then, it’s been a complete disaster. Rhule is 11-26 in his tenure in Carolina and the team has looked worse every season. They lost again in week 4 26-16 to the Cardinals after another dismal offensive performance despite having two of the league’s best weapons in Christian McCaffery and DJ Moore.
This stat is actually unbelievable.
The #Panthers are now 1-26 under Matt Rhule when the opponent scores at least 17 points – including 24 losses in a row.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 2, 2022
Fans are absolutely done with Matt Rhule
Carolina Panther fans are fed up. The team looks seemingly worse every week.
Dear Mr. Tepper,
Sell the team or fire Matt Rhule tonight.Sincerely,
Exhausted Panther fans#firemattrhule— Carolina Panthers (@PantherTalk_) October 2, 2022
I would rant about this is Tepper's fault and that he should fire Matt Rhule, but I'm so frigging numb at this point. It's old. This product is so uninspiring that I don't even know why I spend 3 hours a week on them.
— JT (@Jaberuski) October 2, 2022
Unfortunately for fans, his contract is an Albatross. He still has around $40 million in guaranteed money remaining. Owner David Tepper ultimately may not have a choice, though, if he doesn’t want to risk losing his fan base.
Fans simply do not care about the money issue (nor should they, it’s not their money.)
Please. Just. Fire. Rhule.
End it. End it now.
— Nathan Fry (@FrySports) October 2, 2022
The Matt Rhule Panthers era needs to end. Like, tomorrow. I have no earthly idea what else you need to see. There's no benefit to prolonging the inevitable.
— Andrew Schnittker (@aschnitt53) October 2, 2022
In the meantime, Carolina fans can think about this…
Think about all the hires the Panthers could have made instead of Matt Rhule
— mike freeman (@mikefreemanNFL) October 3, 2022
the Panthers are 1-3 and face the San Francisco 49ers in week five.