Source: Eric Espada / Getty
As we head towards the eighteenth and final week of the longest season in Panther history both figuratively and literally, all of the attention is focused on head coach Matt Rhule and whether or not the head coach will return for a third season. Following a 3-0 start, the Panthers have proceeded to lose 11 of the last 13 games and take a proverbial step back from the season that they had a year ago. Rhule currently has the worst record in the first 32 games of a coaching tenure in franchise history, as he sits at 10-22 heading into Sunday’s meeting with the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay and as Joe Person of The Athletic reported on Friday, there is talk that David Tepper is unhappy and frustrated with the results based on the contract that he signed Rhule to when he brought him in.
Mike Florio joined the Mac Attack earlier this morning to the reiterate his thoughts that Matt Rhule isn’t completely safe, but NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport hopped on later in the show that he believes that Rhule’s future is already see heading into this weekend.
“I don’t believe Matt Rhule is going anywhere. Any time a team is losing, anytime the record isn’t what you want or you look on the field and the offense is a little bit of a mess, everyone sort of speculates. This one, Year 2 of a rebuild for a guy who has always had so much success in Year 3; I don’t believe he’s in any danger at all.”
-Ian Rapoport, NFL Insider for NFL Network
Rhule and the Panthers will close out their regular season on Sunday at 4:25 PM in Tampa as the team looks to snap a six-game losing streak and take down a beaten and battered Buccaneers team. Chris McClain, Brett Jensen and Nick Carboni will get you ready for the game starting at 2:00 PM with “Countdown to Kickoff presented by DeWalt” and then coverage of the game will live on our sister station, WBT, on the Panther Radio Network.
