Adversity can make Panthers QB Bryce Young better. But will it lead to success in 2024?

The Panthers still have five games left this season.

Depending on your dedication to this franchise, that’s either a blessing (because you love football) or a curse (because you love good football). But regardless of your outlook, the next five weeks are set in stone, and they don’t look particularly promising for Carolina.

Even after ditching former head coach Frank Reich — and two of his top offensive assistants — the Panthers looked like the same sorry squad on Sunday in Tampa Bay. While there were some worthwhile changes and improvements, the offense is still the offense, the talent is still the talent, and the questions surrounding the squad remain apparent and unanswered.

Carolina still has to play each of its three division opponents again this season after going 0-3 in the first round of NFC South matchups. The Panthers also will play against the Green Bay Packers and Jacksonville Jaguars, who are surging as playoff contenders .

The Panthers are basically playing to keep the 2024 No. 1 pick out of the Chicago Bears’ hands at this point. And with this remaining schedule in place — and what Carolina has put on tape in clear view — that seems like an uphill battle, even as Bill Belchick’s New England Patriots skid to a 2-10 start.

Anyway, here are some Kaye’s Takes to ponder entering Week 14:

What we learned this past weekend...

Well, it seemingly doesn’t matter who is leading the charge in Carolina at this point. This team is a stinker.

The lack of complementary football is mind-numbing. Chris Tabor, the interim head coach and special teams coordinator, and defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero have done basically everything they can to keep this ship afloat, but the offense is acting like a haywire cannon that only aims into the hull.

Even with offensive coordinator Thomas Brown taking back play-calling, the Panthers’ offense was what it had been for the previous 11 weeks. Sure, Brown dressed up the packages with pre-snap motion and under-center looks, but the results of those defined wrinkles weren’t enough to eclipse the 20-point mark against a banged-up Buccaneers defense.

Brown’s play-calling on the final drive was also questionable at best. He had a 100-yard rusher in Chuba Hubbard, who became only the second running back all season to eclipse that mark against Tampa Bay, and Brown still chose to pass twice on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 with a rookie quarterback who faced pressure the entire game.

When Bryce Young threw a pick on fourth down, it was almost too predicable. In fact, the CBS commentary team in the booth basically alluded to the potential of such a moment before it happened earlier in the fourth quarter.

Listen, the offense’s faltering isn’t completely on the staff. This is a bad roster, particularly on offense, and the personnel department deserves its fair share of criticism.

The offensive line is a major problem, and that unit’s struggles go well beyond starting five different players at left guard and six different players at right guard.

Left tackle Ikem Ekwonu has become a pressure-allowing turnstile this season and center Bradley Bozeman has been bested in pass protection at an astonishing clip. In Peter King’s weekly column, he cited Next Gen Stats, and pointed out that Bozeman leads all centers in pressures and sacks allowed.

On the opposite side, while the Panthers’ defense has done a really good job in a lot of aspects, the Buccaneers were able to use Carolina killer Mike Evans to create huge plays in the passing game. Evans’ dominance over the Panthers has been a case of endless bullying, and the wideout doesn’t seem close to slowing down or going anywhere.

The Panthers have put together strong third-down defensive numbers, but their inability to create takeaways — a fluke interception by Xavier Woods notwithstanding — and sacks — Marquis Haynes had the lone takedown Sunday — have been issues from a closing perspective.

The unit has dealt with a ton of injuries, and that can’t be ignored, but the reality of the situation is impact plays are typically limited to pass breakups or incompletions. Rarely are opposing offenses “out of phase,” and that can be problematic when the inevitable splash play comes in crunch time, as the defense gets tired from having no margin for error from the offense.

The Panthers’ offense is the root of a lot of the team’s problems, and an end is only in sight because the schedule finishes up at a fixated point.

Bryce Young: A hero without his powers

In a lot of fairy tales and comic books, a heroic protagonist has his or her powers and/or strengths taken away at some point in the narrative. That hero then needs to learn how to make it through their journey without those powers and adapt to the new world around them.

In Carolina’s cinematic universe, Young is that protagonist.

Young, a humble, accountable warrior, has always been the best wherever he’s been. He was a top high school prospect, a Heisman-trophy winner at Alabama, and he went No. 1 overall in April’s NFL draft. Young has always been on the upswing.

Sure, he didn’t start right away as a freshman at Alabama or win a national championship as a starting quarterback, but that’s the story for most football players — even the great ones. Those moments of “adversity” weren’t really cause for major change. Those moments were simply bumps in the road.

At 1-11, with nine touchdowns and nine interceptions to his name in 11 starts — and his pal and fellow rookie quarterback, CJ Stroud, in the midst of an unreal first season with the Houston Texans — Young is facing legitimate football adversity for the first time in his playing career.

His superpowers — off-scheduled playmaking and notable accuracy — have essentially vanished due to the turbulent surroundings he’s been given. While Young is responsible — and has been accountable — for his fair share of mistakes, he’s had to endure this challenging second act of his career largely due to a poorly conceived roster and playbook.

Young is only 22. He’s not a bust. He’s not even a major letdown to this point. He has to overcome the next five games and make the most of a reset of sorts.

Like a comic book superhero, he needs to learn from the pitfalls and pull himself up when he has a better ecosystem around him, which will hopefully come with the next new staff and set of roster pieces that arrive this upcoming offseason.

Following Sunday’s loss, Tabor said the Panthers could handle their miserable journey one of two ways: with character or compromise. While Tabor might not have been talking directly to Young, the message should have been one that hit him hard. Tabor acknowledged Monday that Young’s bumps and bruises from this season will help him mature faster in the NFL.

There is still a long story to be written about Young, and it’s on him to take his lumps throughout the remainder of the year and respond in a way that validates himself and the Panthers’ decision to mortgage their future on him.

No one is asking Young to wear a cape right now. But come next season, he needs to prove that he’s more Superman than Aquaman. Though, either would be swell, in theory, given that the rookie looks like he’s drowning among a sea of underwhelming talent.

Thoughts on future head coach

Following Reich’s dismissal last week, I reached out to roughly a dozen sources who work in various jobs around the NFL for their opinions on the Panthers’ current situation. While some chose to simply pile on with quips about the notion of owner David Tepper’s heavy hand in football operations, others shared their takes on the future.

The majority of the sources I spoke with believe the Panthers need to go in the direction of a proven program-builder to replace Reich. Some specifically mentioned Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh as a potential solution. A couple of them mentioned looking for a Belichick-type enforcer — though Belichick is really in his own category at this point, and it’s unclear whether the Patriots will actually make him available.

The logic of the “program-builder” is that the head coach would have a say in personnel and the clout to tell Tepper “no” without repercussions. On the surface, that’s an interesting outlook. But it also seems like a lame approach for ownership to hire a dictator to simply distance themselves from involvement.

From the outside looking in, it feels like hiring a president of football operations — often called an executive VP of football operations — above a head coach and a general manager would accomplish a similar goal without the weirdness of a “my way or else” leadership presence.

Look, the whole “diversity of thought” strategy didn’t float, but a true partnership among a football president, GM and head coach has been a successful strategy in the NFL for decades. The football president can serve as a go-between with Tepper and the football people and help the owner make educated decisions that go beyond his knowledge.

With that sort of strategy, the Panthers would be free to find the best coach for them.

Some within the league have pushed back at the notion of a young, first-timer taking over as head coach, simply because of Tepper’s nature of being heavily involved. A football president can hedge that involvement and create a healthier and familiar ecosystem for a younger head coach. That president, with a background in football, could also mitigate a quick trigger if it takes time for the young coach to find success.

ESPN has reported that Tepper is likely to go after a young offensive play-caller. CBS Sports has also brought up the notion of Harbaugh being a legitimate candidate this offseason after flirting with Carolina last season.

From this beat writer’s point of view, the interview process should be vast. It shouldn’t be limited to coaching archetypes. The college success story of Matt Rhule didn’t work here. Neither did the retread in Reich. Heck, Ron Rivera — an NFL lifer — didn’t have staying power under Tepper, either.

It’s time to just hire the right candidate — not the box someone fits in. It’s the same as scouting a draft prospect for traits — take a look at the Panthers’ depth chart and tell me that’s a sound strategy.

A name that has come up multiple times in my conversations over the past week is Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator Frank Smith. While Smith isn’t the Dolphins’ primary offensive play-caller, he does handle a lot of the background material during the practice week, a league source said. The same source raved about Smith’s intelligence and humble, down-to-earth nature.

Teams want to hire offensive play-callers as head coaches to curb the potential of losing a talented offensive coordinator after the first hint of success. But one could argue that the Panthers need to just get points on the board at this point. And if Smith hires a play-caller who gets plucked, well, the Panthers will have probably had their first sparkle of success under Tepper. That seems like a win-win.

Offensive coordinators with the Detroit Lions, (Ben Johnson), Philadelphia Eagles (Brian Johnson) and Houston Texans (Bobby Slowik) should have plenty of options this offseason because of their play-calling abilities.

Smith, though, because he is more of a behind-the-scene technician, might fall between the cracks of the coaching carousel and that could be to the Panthers’ advantage.