Carolina Panthers Fire Frank Reich After Only 11 Games

The days of giving a coach a few years to get his system in place have come and gone.

Today, NFL coaches are expected to come in, regardless of the roster talent, and produce wins.

Frank Reich did not even get a full season to show if his system would work or not, as the Carolina Panthers fired him after starting the season 1-10.

It Takes Time

I don’t care who you are, it is nearly impossible to walk into a locker room like the one the Panthers have and succeed.

The Panthers traded away their entire future to move up to get Bryce Young, sending their first and second-round picks in 2023, their first-round pick in 2024, and a second-round pick in 2025, as well as receiver D.J. Moore to the Bears for the number one pick.

The only player they have left on offense that the casual fan would know is wide receiver Adam Thielen. They have some talent on the defensive side of the ball, but it is not much better.

It is an exception when a young QB wins in this league, and Young was not the exception, quite the contrary, but surely his performance had something to do with this decision, as Reich was known to work wonders with QBs in the past.

Having said that, Young was still going to be a project that would take time, something ownership was not willing to give Reich.

Owner David Tepper stated, "I met with Coach Reich this morning and informed him he will not continue as head coach of the Carolina Panthers. I want to thank Frank for his dedication and service, and we wish him well.”

Special Teams Coordinator Chris Tabor will serve as the interim head coach for the remainder of the season, with the Panthers now getting the jump on available coaches for next season.

Keep in mind, the Panthers fired Matt Rhule last year halfway through the season as well, which is going to make it awfully hard to draw top talent to the team.

Head coaches need to know they will have time to put their systems in place, but Carolina clearly has a short leash.

To me, this is more about the GM than it is the coach, as that team has been stripped down to the bare bones, and because of that awful trade, they have very little in the way of restocking talent until at least 2025.