It’s been a bad week for the Panthers.
They fired General Manager Marty Hurney, bemoaned the lack of leadership and lost two defensive starters to season-ending injuries while coach Ron Rivera faced questions about his job security. Throw in a 1-5 record and it’s not hard to see parallels to the way things went off the rails en route to a 2-14 season in 2010. Linebacker Thomas Davis, whose injury helped contribute to the slump that year, said that there’s no comparison between the two years, however.
“We didn’t have nearly the amount of talent on that team as we do right now. Let’s be real about that. Everybody knows that,” Davis said, via the Charlotte Observer. “We knew what was going on with the whole lockout coming up. So it’s not even close. To compare this team that we have right now to that team is definitely unfair.”
There is more talent on this year’s team, which is why there were people who thought they would take a step up into playoff contention this season. All the talent in the world doesn’t matter if your team doesn’t win games, though, and there won’t be any extra credit given because this team might be better on paper than their record reflects. It just serves to make the results more disappointing and leads to the kind of week that the Panthers will put to bed against the Bears on Sunday.