The Panthers’ head coach doesn’t have to make big changes to stay, but that doesn’t mean they will be easy ones.
This column began as a weekly spotlight on the worst tendencies and decision-making habits of the Carolina Panthers coaching staff. The intention wasn’t to publish a weekly list of reasons why Ron Rivera should be fired. It was to provide constructive criticism. Not for Rivera —I have no idea if anybody inside Bank of America Stadium reads this column— but for fans who wanted to know why Panthers games were always closer than they needed to be.
Sometimes, we’ve looked at situations where the staff has bucked the influence of their out-dated angels. The rest of these columns have focused on situations where the Panthers made bad choices while possessing the ball. Yesterday, Ron Rivera decided to shake up the staff that spends the least amount of time with the football.
That may come across as scapegoating from the perspective of this writing, but it isn’t. The defense was also a problem this year. No amount of offensive coaching changes are going to change how Rivera makes decisions in the red zone or on critical downs with short distances to gain. The opportunity for scapegoats left long ago, now is the time for shuffling coaches on the deck of the R.M.S. Riverboat. It is what it is.
There isn’t much left to say. We know that the Panthers are hampered by certain personnel deficiencies along both lines that accentuate Rivera’s most antiquated flaws. He wants to rely on his frequently struggling defense and is given the opportunity often by an offense that is magnetically attracted to coming up just short on third down. He actively prefers close games, decided by a touchdown or less, where his record is dead even through eight years. A perfect 29-29-1.
With only four games left in 2018 for the Panthers, Rivera has to believe that a winning streak can save his job. Pulling that off will require a style of coaching that he clearly disdains. The Panthers have spent all season —and, really, all of Rivera’s tenure in Carolina— on the verge of success. He has built good teams and has convinced his players to buy in year after year. They, like many teams, commit a number of errors every game. Losses take on the story of an avalanche of misfortune. Wins are often about overcoming adversity and “finding a way to win.” Part of that balancing act of mistakes and missed opportunities are self-inflicted wounds. They are based in what looks like a desire to resurrect the 1985 Bears in the era of the 2018 Chiefs.
That balance keeps the Panthers teetering back and forth between winning and losing seasons. A year where everything clicks into place looks like 2015. A year that sees a few more unlucky bounces looks like 2018, or 2011, or 2012, or 2014, or 2016. If Rivera would take his good teams and push them instead of trying to protect them then he could be a successful coach in the NFL. He could tip the balance that he created. He could lead the Panthers to future seasons of relevance. To do so his team needs to make a commitment to scoring points instead of possessing the football, to defending the pass instead of rallying to the catch.
Rivera’s stories could be about beating most teams with confidence instead of a last second field goal. Fans could be excited about big games instead of, at best, nervous. I don’t think any of this is likely to happen, but I would be happy if it did. The old Riverboat has been good for this franchise. I don’t enjoy writing about negatives of his time here. I don’t want to keep writing about narrow losses to teams that are not better than the Panthers. I would like to write about an eight year veteran, in danger of being left behind, acknowledging his own flaws and growing as a head coach at the highest level of football.
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