For the first time in a long time, Carolina has good will to burn
The Carolina Panthers have entered the off season with a rare commodity: the good will of their fans. After years of disappointing finishes and snake oil pitches, fans of the Panthers were near the end of their collective ropes. A 5-12 season is hardly worth celebrating, but it does match the best efforts of a single, full-time head coach since Ron Rivera was fired.
The efforts of the team down the stretch, actually matched what Dave Canales was selling fans throughout the year. The team was close but far from there yet. They notched four of their five wins in the final nine games, with three more games against playoff teams being decided by a combined 12 points. For all that the infamous “optimist bully” personality of Canales could have fallen flat in the wake of the extremely competent Frank Reich and the, uh, whatever Matt Rhule was supposed to be, he struck a chord of authenticity instead. That clearly resonated with Panthers fans.
The season ended with 85% of Panthers fans confident in the direction of the team. That is largely a testament to what Canales did with a deeply flawed roster. Bryce Young’s resurgence after being benched is probably 99% of that confidence, while I expect a similar portion of the 15% who weren’t confident are actively worried about the state of the defense. That comes down to the team as built by general manager Dan Morgan.
The rest of the questions this week were meant to fracture that monolithic 85% number to see if there was more confusion under the hood than implied. And, yeah, y’all delivered on that.
60% of fans think that the 2024 season was a success. I can get everybody walking into this season with differing definitions of success. For some of you it may simply have been a positive evaluation on Young. For other fans, with tighter reins on their happiness, it’s probably playoffs or bust. Whether your definition was based on optimism, reason, or pure hatred of the rest of the NFC South, there is room for at least 25% of fans to think that the team is heading in the right direction without thinking that the season was successful.
What I don’t understand is how any of y’all think that the team met or exceeded expectations (combined 76%) but didn’t have a successful season. There’s at least 16% of Panthers fans walking that emotional tightrope. All I can say is that we’re here for you when you fall.
And a last note, with 76% of fans thinking the team met or exceeded expectations and 85% of fans thinking that the team is heading in the right direction, that means that 9% of y’all think the Carolina Panthers fell short of expectations while trending positively. I don’t know what you expected coming off of the train wreck that was 2023, but I have to salute the optimism needed for that. I guess I have to say it again, we’re here for you when you fall.