Did we need to have this sort of season?

[Bwood]

Not to say that a team should ever go through a losing season, but this very odd year of 2012 may have been a blessing in disguise, and a real eye opener for the panthers.

We started off the season with high expectations, and a guarantee to win the Super Bowl with our healthy, young, swaggerific team. Quickly we learned just how prepared we were.

Cam goes into a slump. Our highly touted offensive coordinator loses his mind. Our GM is fired, and the silent killer behind all of this is left to take care of the entire franchise. We found ourselves out of contention a while ago, but to many fans surprise, our team has not given up.

Things have turned around. Our defense is top 10. Our QB is back to playing the way we all love to see him play. Our offense looks normal, and is running efficiently. No special team blunders.

You never want to lose, or having losing seasons, but do you think this season has really taught us that we aren't invincible? We're just like every other team and everyone needs to excel at their jobs of we want to be successful.

Just a thought.

[Marguide]

Just a typhought.

And a pretty good thought imo.

Just look at Kalil's ad. Look at how we came out against Tampa, and then how we followed up the Saints win. From the front office to the coaches to the players, they bought into the hype too much.

Time will tell whether or not they have learned their lesson. Gut feel says yes, but it's too early to tell. Let's see how they come out against the Raiders. This is a team they should beat, but also the type of contest in which we seem to often underwhelm.

[CarolinaVeins]

I think the hype is comparable to that moment when Lebron said not 1, not 2, not 3 etc... He had to learn it takes a lot of hard work the hard way and Cam learning that now. So yes it was a blessing

[KJ89]

I think this season will have a huge effect on Cam in years to come. In a good way.

Everyone else too, I guess. But I think Cam was humbled, and improved by his mistakes being so big even when they were barely his. He'll be a better QB after 2012

[Keith Moons Liver]

Considering how terrible we have been for years, if they thought they were "invincible" heading into this season they need mental health professionals, not another losing season.

[carolina-chuck]

I think the hype is comparable to that moment when Lebron said not 1, not 2, not 3 etc... He had to learn it takes a lot of hard work the hard way and Cam learning that now. So yes it was a blessing

Great comparison

[TheRed]

Isn't this the sort of thing we say every year? Just saying.

[Gucci Mane]

Considering how terrible we have been for years, if they thought they were "invincible" heading into this season they need mental health professionals, not another losing season.

Well the feeling in the air after last season is the same as it is now... That we were in all but a few games, and could have just as easily won those games as we did lose. So the logic was, we get a full offseason to fix those minor things to help us finish, and we will be great. There has never been a more exciting feeling like we have now. We actually have a future, not having to wonder whether jake throws picks one game or deshuan foster fumbles.

[PantherPhann89]

We'll see...

[fieryprophet]

2013 will tell everything. 2011 was the gimme "reset" year, 2012 was supposed to be the "hey, we've arrived" year but they got smacked in the mouth. All of the advanced metrics are screaming that this is a much better team than it seems to be. 2013 will tell us once and for all if this team can be what we want it to be or if we need to blow up everything but the small core.

[DeeJay]

Just hope we don't get another ad in the paper saying

THE PANTHERS MUST WIN THE 2013 SUPERBOWL

[ThunderKatt]

I think Cam learned a lot from the start of the season when he was saying that he had to carry the team til now he is utilizing the offense as a whole. Players that are out there working their butts off don't want to hear one guy saying that he has to do it by himself. I like how he is giving credit to players that are a positive impact. That alone is showing growth on his part.

[Bwood]

Isn't this the sort of thing we say every year? Just saying.

I think that we were so use to having winning seasons every other year, that after these last couple of losing seasons, we truly saw the potential and everyone from the fans, to the players, to the coaches, bought into winning it all.

This was an eye opener that we truly are still in a stage of rebuilding, but we're almost there. We should be fortunate that we are just a couple of solid players and some depth away from being a contender. At least we aren't one of those teams without a stable franchise QB.

[TheRed]

I think that we were so use to having winning seasons every other year, that after these last couple of losing seasons, we truly saw the potential and everyone from the fans, to the players, to the coaches, bought into winning it all.

This was an eye opener that we truly are still in a stage of rebuilding, but we're almost there. We should be fortunate that we are just a couple of solid players and some depth away from being a contender. At least we aren't one of those teams without a stable franchise QB.

I don't know that there was much to get used to, we're only talking 4 winning seasons out of 17.

All we have at this point is hope. If our ownership doesn't take the right route this offseason we're f*cked.