Analysis: Teddy Bridgewater ended the year benched leaving his future even more in doubt

It was after the second interception in the end zone that the switch was made.

With 6:59 remaining in the third quarter and the Panthers down 19-7 to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, Teddy Bridgewater stood on the sideline wearing a beanie next to backup quarterback Will Grier, who was a healthy scratch.

Instead, P.J. Walker ran onto the field to lead the offense.

All season long, Carolina coach Matt Rhule has said that he did not need to see the backup quarterbacks on the field to know what he has in them — or, for that matter, any backup players. The Panthers play to win games. But Bridgewater did not look right.

After throwing two end-zone interceptions, Bridgewater was pulled from the game and watched the final quarter and a half of the 2020 season next to his inactive teammates. The Panthers head into the offseason with their worst loss of the season, falling 33-7 to the New Orleans Saints at Bank of America Stadium.

Carolina finishes the year 5-11, matching last year’s record.

Bridgewater injured his right foot in the first quarter on a first-and-goal, 7-yard scramble to the New Orleans’ 1-yard line. He came up limping after the play, but remained in the game and finished 13-of-23 passing for 176 yards, with no touchdowns and two interceptions.

Sunday was his third career game with zero touchdowns and two or more interceptions. One of those came in Week 2 in a loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“Obviously, (Bridgewater) got hit in the ankle, tried to gut through it,” Rhule said. “It just didn’t look like he was getting the velocity and the movement. They were gonna pressure us all night. So I made the decision to go to P.J. and let him play the rest of the half and see what happens.”

If a player is pulled due to injury, the Panthers have to release an injury update to the media. They did not as the quarterback was cleared to return to the game. Trainers checked out his foot briefly while he sat on the bench, and told Rhule that the quarterback “was fine” health-wise. But after two quarters more on the field, his performance did not look right to the coach.

On a 44-yard pass to DJ Moore, who made an incredible play on the football, in the third quarter, the quarterback appeared off. Bridgewater threw that second interception on the following play. Walker entered the game on the next drive.

“Before I threw that second interception, we took a shot to DJ and I wasn’t able to get everything on the ball. I think (the coaches) noticed just something right there,” Bridgewater said. “It was really just a decision they made to protect me with the way the Saints were pressuring and different things. I probably wasn’t as mobile as I wanted to be, couldn’t get the velocity that I wanted on the ball.”

Bridgewater was standing with his foot wrapped for the final quarter.

With the Panthers down by multiple scores, Rhule knew his quarterback would be pressured and had somewhat limited mobility. With the struggles in Saints territory that the offense had been having all night, Carolina tried a different option.

“I thought maybe P.J. would go in there and play well give us a spark,” Rhule said. “And, again, I just didn’t think Teddy looked really healthy to me.”

Walker didn’t fare any better, throwing three interceptions of his own in less than a half of football. He completed 5-of-14 passes for 95 yards and zero touchdowns. He was sacked twice. The five interceptions in the game tied the most in Panthers history (three times previously, including postseason).

In addition to Walker taking over the starting spot, quarterback/tight end Tommy Stevens, active for the first time as a Panther, came in to assist at times. He finished with four rushes for 24 yards.

The offense finished the day 1 of 9 on third down and 2 of 4 on fourth down behind an offensive line down to its fifth option at left tackle in Michael Schofield. Rhule had said during the week leading up to the game that third down was something he was hoping to see improved in the final game of the year. It didn’t work out that way.

With the loss and the rest of Sunday’s outcomes, the Panthers secured the eighth pick in the draft. But the future at quarterback is far more open. Bridgewater’s contract leaves him in Carolina next season. Over the second half of the season, his performance has declined and the offense has struggled to get going.

The Panthers have already expressed interest in free agents such as former Washington quarterback Dwayne Haskins. Grier being a healthy scratch while Stevens was active points to the 2019 third-round pick not being in the team’s plans for the future. Walker did not make a convincing case for himself Sunday. They won’t get their choice of quarterback at the top of the draft, but options will exist including trading up, getting someone who drops or targeting a QB in a later round. It will be a tough task for whoever is next at general manager.

It’s not just a single-game performance from Bridgewater that has left them in this position. Far from it. Not taking into consideration the lack of success in eight game-winning or game-tying situations this season, Bridgewater will not leave the Panthers on a positive note in the offseason.

Over the last five games, Bridgewater’s performance took a decline. While the Panthers went 1-4 to end the year, he completed 63% of his passes for 236.2 yards per game, two touchdowns and four interceptions. He was sacked 12 times and ran for two touchdowns.

In those five games, he completed 6 of 17 passes (35.3%) for 32 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions in red zone. Not having success inside Saints’ territory was one of the issues that Rhule pointed to when asked about Bridgewater’s performance, although the head coach said coordinator Joe Brady took responsibility for the first interception due to a bad play call. Moore and Curtis Samuel were left in the same area of the field, when Malcolm Jenkins broke off of covering Samuel to get the pick.

“In this business, everything is production-based. And of course, I have to be better, my production has to be better. I think, for the most part, we did a good job of keeping ourselves in the games,” Bridgewater said when asked if he had produced enough to earn the starting job next year. “Of course, you want to be better in the red zone, and that’s an area that we have to be better at as a team. And of course, myself, I want to be better down there. So, 15 touchdowns — I had five rushing touchdowns as well — but I get paid to throw the football and obviously, I can do more. I need to do more.”

Rhule declined to comment on if he could see Bridgewater being the starting quarterback next year, instead wanting to stay focused on the day’s game, and postponing those answers to Monday’s season-ending press conference.

The questions coming into the season revolved around what Bridgewater’s ceiling could be. Was he the long-term answer that the Panthers could build around? But with his season ending from the sideline, the door opened even more for another quarterback to walk in.