Captroop

This. I don't think he's the cure to our offensive woes. And frankly I think he deserves better than to spend the twilight years of his career getting abused by this line...again. But at this point I think Cam coming back is the only thing that would spark fan enthusiasm to turn out. I mean, I sure wouldn't shell out $200+ to see a Panthers team with an interim HC and QB. But I might to see Cam. Otherwise, our home games are just a fire sale of tickets for visiting teams' fans.

I like the idea of having an interim coach a lot more than I like the idea of Rhule going down with the ship. An interim coach can do whatever the fug he wants, because he's always got the built in excuse that he inherited the team and the personnel. If Rhule finishes out the season, he has to at least pretend he's still the Panthers coach of the future. So he can't change the personnel around too much, he can't change the gameplan too much, because he can't admit any mistakes. Wilkes steps in, it doesn't hurt him to start Darnold over Baker. Hell, it doesn't hurt him to start PJ over either! It's not his team, it's not egg on his face, and in all likelihood, he won't be with the team next year. So go nuts! Open up the last page of the playbook. Start the backup Center. Put the Punter in at Wide Receiver. Let's see what talent we've got on this team. And who knows? Without the burden of acting like Rhule's process was "so close" and was about to start working week over week, we might actually shake things up to looking halfway competitive!

Since we're light years away from going to a Super Bowl, this feels like winning our Super Bowl!

Every ad for NFL+ is like a kick in the guts. It reminds me that I'm paying to watch this garbage.

This. Football is a chess match. Your opponents counter your strategies, and in response, you need to be smart enough to counter their counters. Opposing defenses have found that disengaging their D-Linemen and clogging the throwing lanes is effective against our passing offense. What's surprising is that in 4 games we haven't found a way to exploit defenders standing up and waiting to bat balls down.

I'unno about all that. Robbie seems to be the only receiver Baker has any rapport with. Shenault over Shi, for sure, though. Higgins over Shi. Shi over TMJ. TMJ over... I'm sure there's someone.

Hey, the Colts beat the Chiefs. Anything can happen on Sunday. We own the Cardinals. The 49ers look lost. I won't say anything about Brady or the reigning Super Bowl champs. That's not to say we could win half, or any of these games. But these games don't look like the automatic 0-4 stretch I was expecting at the beginning of the season. And if we're 2-2 next week, I'll feel a lot differently about the next 3 games than if we're 1-3. At least I have a reason to watch. That's something.

Mark my words because I'm calling it now: There will definitely be a Super Bowl this year.

Called it. Jameis might as well be called "Mr. Get Right" for us.

Whoda thunk it?

Damn. Why was Eddie Pinero available?

Did anyone hear Baker audible before the Chubba run? "I don't like where he's at." Lol!

If you're going for a Nazi allusion there, it would be "Herr Tepper." Unless you were talking about his kids who will inherit his money. And in either case, considering he's Jewish, that's not in good taste.

God. Imagine following up the Luke Kuechly era with the Micah Parsons era, flanked by Shaq and Luvu. Best LB corps in the league. I still don't understand that pick. A shutdown CB is nice, but when you have the opportunity for a 10+ year MLB and field general, I don't know why you wouldn't take it. After 12 years of Beason and Luke, it's strange for MLB to not be the centerpiece of our defense.

He meant to say "Year 3 ended yesterday"

I said in another thread, there is no excuse for this team not being able to beat either the Brown or the Giants. If we were 1-and-1 I'd be willing to overlook a lot. But to be 0-2 in the part of the season where we needed to drum up our wins shows a profound lack of urgency. At this point, I care as much about Rhule's tenure as he seems to care about Winning. I'm literally never this guy. Ever. I ordinarily would never consider saying this in week 2. But this is where I'm at: Fire Rhule. Let's put in an interim HC for the remaining 15 games. Maybe we'll be a lot worse, but there's a remote chance we'll be better and that's more than I can say about the team with Rhule at the helm. People are like, Rhule should go down with the ship, and I honestly don't feel like he deserves the honor (or dubious distinction) of being an NFL head coach.

...that's exactly my point, dummy The only difference between the Super Bowl team, and a 5 turnover performance last week and losing to the Cowboys this week is a completely inferior O line. Same Joe Burrow. Same Jamar Chase. So why do they look so bad?

Honestly the way the Bengals are playing is my answer to anyone saying we need to tank and draft a QB. "We need a top 10 QB" My answer will always be, "behind what line?" This is not a QB driven league. That's erroneous thinking. This is an Offensive Line driven league. The Bengals are starting 4 different O linemen from their Super Bowl team. Now Joe Burrow looks like Jimmy Clausen. And every QB who has looked good today, you know what the commonality was? Time in the pocket. Cam, Teddy, Sam, Baker. They've all looked mediocre. And yet people want to pursue ANOTHER QB? That will magically be the answer? What's that old saying about the definition of insanity? Until we have a line, we won't contend. Period. You will not succeed in this "Top 10 QB driven league" if your QB is constantly throwing from a collapsing pocket. When the Bengals have the same record we do after today, you'll believe me.

The rose tinted glasses are off and smashed. And someone pissed on the shards. I've given Rhule every benefit of every possible doubt because I so wanted this team to be successful. This should not only have been a W. This should have been a blowout. To be 0-2 in the softest part of our schedule is inexcusable. I'm on the band wagon. Fire Rhule. If we win a game it will be in spite of him not because of him. It's maddening that were in week 2 and I've already completely lost hope for the season. And I'm as blindly optimistic as they come. You've got to be a special kind of awful to make me start thinking about how we're going to rebuild in the off-season in week 2. And you did it, Rhule. Congrats on achieving the impossible.

Hell no. Here's what I saw today: the Browns are strongest where we are weakest. The Browns have an incredibly strong rushing attack, and our Run D is weak. The Browns have an incredibly strong pass rush, and we're staring a rookie at LT. Ickey looked raw, but going up against Myles Garrett in your first regular season action is a very tall order. Honestly, until we play the Rams and Aaron Donald, I don't think we're facing a pass rush the likes of which we saw today. And by that point, Ickey will be a salty veteran by comparison. Similarly, I'm not sure we're going to face a two-headed rushing attack like we dealt with today. I don't know what Nick Chubb is covered in, but they should bottle it and it would outsell KY jelly. I saw a lot of fight in the team today, and I wouldn't throw in the towel after 1 week.

I don't think it's code; I think Fitt was pretty transparent with his comments. They're Panthers right now because they haven't received an offer good enough to consider trading them. The FO isn't actively shopping them, but if someone comes up with an offer we can't refuse, we won't.

Honestly, I thought Chandler would be cut for that sack attempt alone.

Is it just me, or does anyone else hear a clown nose honk in their head when squeezes his junk? It's just me, isn't it...

He looked woefully out of his depth. And a few more training camp reps were not going to make the difference. I want to see a silver lining here, but losing a year of practice really will hurt his development. What he will need to do is spend the year watching, and conditioning, and conditioning, and conditioning. He's very talented, but he's more raw than I expected him to be. So a year riding the bench with no expectations will be good for him. But as others have pointed out, if Rhule isn't hear next offseason, I doubt his future will be with us.