CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With the Carolina Panthers approaching the midway point of the 2023 NFL season, it’s safe to say things aren’t looking great.
At 1-8, the Panthers are off to their worst start since 2010, when the team only won two games. With nine games left, there’s a real shot Carolina matches a franchise-low of one win, which they achieved in 2001.
The horrible start has been a big surprise to many fans and NFL experts, who believed Carolina was in position to compete for the NFC South division championship after making a blockbuster trade to draft Bryce Young first overall. Instead, the partnership between Young and first-year head coach Frank Reich has been anything but fruitful to this point.
To make matters worse, Carolina’s aggressive trade to No. 1 in this year’s draft means they currently don’t have a first-round pick in next year’s draft. However, if you’re looking for some silver lining, consider this. The 2023 Panthers have a young, exciting quarterback with potential. Things obviously haven’t started well, but eight games doesn’t make a career and, many NFL legends have rebounded from poor rookie seasons.
With the jury still out on Young (and there’s no reason to panic at this stage), here’s a look at a few Panthers teams that failed to excite anyone.
2001: 1-15
You can’t talk about bad football in Charlotte without immediately thinking of the 2001 Panthers. That team won its opening game against the Minnesota Vikings before making NFL history by losing 15 consecutive games to finish 1-15.
The Panthers were the only team in NFL history to win its opening game and lose the remainder of the season until 2020, when the Jacksonville Jaguars accomplished(?) the same infamous feat. The 2001 Panthers also set the NFL record for consecutive losses, which was broken by the winless 2008 Detroit Lions and 2017 Cleveland Browns.
Panthers fans were understandably fed up and a pitiful crowd showed up for the final game of the George Seifert era, a 38-6 loss to the New England Patriots. Siefert was fired and the Panthers drafted North Carolina’s Julius Peppers with the No. 2 pick in the 2022 draft.
2010: 2-14
Ask any Panthers fans about 2010, and one thing immediately comes to mind: Jimmy Clausen. But the dysfunction goes deeper than that. Labor negotiations between the NFL players union and owners led to the 2010 season being played with no salary cap or salary floor. As a result, owner Jerry Richardson gutted Carolina’s roster, purging the team of several veterans, including starting quarterback Jake Delhomme, wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad, defensive end Julius Peppers and backup quarterbacks Josh McCown and A.J. Feely. This left then-head coach John Fox in an impossible situation with a roster that had no chance to win many games, and that’s before it became clear Clausen wasn’t going to pan out in the pros.
Matt Moore and Clausen, a second-year draft pick out of Notre Dame, rotated at quarterback throughout the season until Moore suffered a season-ending shoulder injury against New Orleans. At one point, the Panthers called on Brian St. Pierre, a journeyman-turned-stay-at-home dad to play one game at quarterback. It went about like you’d expect in a 37-13 thrashing at the hands of the then-Ray Lewis-led Baltimore Ravens.
Things were so bad that star receiver Steve Smith, a beloved Panthers legend, reportedly went to Richardson’s home and asked for a trade.
Clausen eventually managed to win one game to improve Carolina’s record to 2-12. They finished the season 2-14, clinching the No. 1 draft pick that quickly ushered in the Cam Newton era. Speaking of, Newton recently shared a hilarious story about being unable to get his signature No. 2 from Clausen, claiming Clausen wanted $1 million for the number. Needless to say, the number swap didn’t happen and Clausen never played another game for the Panthers.
The Matt Rhule era
OK, this one’s more than just one bad team. It was two teams and a third that was well on its way to last place. Under Rhule’s leadership, Carolina was just 11-27 and simply couldn’t get it together. From starting things off on the wrong foot with Cam Newton to general mismanagement at the quarterback position, the Rhule era was the worst stretch of football in Panthers history.
Rhule won five games in both of his full seasons with Carolina and had a revolving door at quarterback. In the 38 games under Rhule, the Panthers started five different quarterbacks, including Cam Newton’s brief comeback in 2021. The Panthers started 3-0 in 2021, but the promising start fizzled out, and the team was last .500 at 5-5.
Carolina traded for QB Baker Mayfield to start the 2022 season, and the partnership never really got going. Mayfield struggled and was injured in Rhule’s final game. The inability to find a reliable starting option sealed Rhule’s coaching fate in Carolina, and he was fired after a 1-4 start in 2022. He and Seifert are the only coaches in Panthers history to have never had a winning season or coached a playoff game.
Locked On is the leading podcast network for local sports and is owned by WCNC Charlotte’s parent company TEGNA. Listen to Locked On here.
All of WCNC Charlotte’s podcasts are free and available for both streaming and download. You can listen now on Android, iPhone, Amazon, and other internet-connected devices. Join us from North Carolina, South Carolina, or on the go anywhere.