Panthers get a win over Washington, but falling in 2021 NFL draft position is a loss

When does a fan want his own team to lose?

In situations exactly like Sunday’s, when the Carolina Panthers could have put themselves in position to grab the No. 3 overall selection in the 2021 NFL draft with a loss to the Washington Football Team.

Instead, in what was a very 2020 kind of twist on the season, the Panthers (5-10) chose Sunday to play one of their better games of the year. They held on to beat Washington (6-9) and former Carolina coach Ron Rivera, 20-13, but in the meantime pushed their own tentative spot in the 2021 draft order down to No. 9 with one week left to play in the regular season.

According to Tankathon, the Panthers would have the ninth overall pick in the 2021 draft if the NFL season had ended after Week 16. Of course, there are more games to play and the “strength of schedule” tiebreaker will change things some more in Week 17, but this felt like a Pyrrhic victory.

This win was both a curse and a blessing for Carolina — but more of a curse. The difference between 5-10 and 4-11 is negligible except for where it puts you in the first-round draft order. The Panthers entered the game at No. 5, would have moved to third or fourth with a loss, but instead exited at No. 9. For coach Matt Rhule and his players, this win was a positive step. For the yet-to-be-hired new Carolina general manager, it was not.

That “It’s Best To Lose This One” opinion was shared by a number of Panther supporters. Before the game, I asked on Twitter for Carolina fans (who compose the majority of my followers) to vote on who they want to win this game.

Of the 514 respondents, 71 percent said they hoped Washington would win.

The drop in draft order Carolina now takes is significant, because Carolina will undoubtedly be in the market for a quarterback to be the heir apparent to Teddy Bridgewater, and top-flight QBs get gone quickly.

Not that Carolina can’t get a QB at No. 9 or wherever they end up picking — Brigham Young quarterback Zach Wilson and/or North Dakota State QB Trey Lance might be available, for instance. Let’s not forget that Patrick Mahomes was the No. 10 overall pick and Aaron Rodgers was No. 24, and those are the NFL’s best two players in 2020.

But there would have been more options at 3 or 4, like Ohio State’s Justin Fields. Jacksonville will almost certainly take Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence at No. 1 — the Jaguars have now clinched the top draft spot, and the Jets have clinched No. 2, where they could take Fields. But almost everything else is unclear after that. It’s even possible the Panthers could move way up again to the No. 3 or No. 4 range again on Sunday with a loss to New Orleans, but about 73 things have to happen first, and they won’t.

On the other hand, it’s difficult to purposely tank a game in the NFL. Carolina could have tried by benching a number of starters Sunday, but even then, Washington quarterback Dwayne Haskins — who got fired Monday — probably would have lost the game regardless.

And of course, for the coaches and players, they are professionals. Tanking would be both against their nature and against the spirit of the game.

Said Carolina coach Matt Rhule after the game: “I think teams that have historically tried to lose to improve their draft pick, it hasn’t really worked out for many teams. The winning franchises win. They win at everything.... We’re the Carolina Panthers. We’re a professional football team.” Rhule went on in this vein at some length Monday, noting that winning in December was a “learned skill” that the Panthers need to embed deep in their psyche.

For winning purposes Sunday, it helped Haskins was terrible, with three first-half turnovers. He was eventually was benched in the fourth quarter in favor of former Panther Taylor Heinicke. Not only was Haskins immature off the field this past week, he was awful on it. He was thoroughly outplayed by Bridgewater and flummoxed by Carolina’s strong defensive effort. Washington unceremoniously released him Monday.

As for the Panthers players: “We don’t care about draft picks,” Carolina running back Mike Davis said afterward. “At the end of the day, our job is to perform.”

And that’s understandable, because the players don’t know if they will even be here in 2021.

Carolina played one of its most complete games of the season, with a special-teams touchdown (a fumble recovery by Brandon Zylstra after a muffed punt) adding an extra TD to scores by Davis and Robby Anderson. The Panthers were up 20-0 in the second quarter, although they wouldn’t score again.

The Carolina defense dominated Haskins, who was playing without his best wide receiver in Terry McLaurin. He eventually was pulled midway through the fourth quarter for Heinicke, who gave Washington a spark and should have gotten the call from Ron Rivera at halftime. Instead, Heinicke got Washington to a late score with just under two minutes to play.

But then Panthers wide receiver DJ Moore recovered an onside kick many of their fans undoubtedly wished that he hadn’t recovered, and that was that.

Now, if the Panthers win again vs. New Orleans Sunday at 4:25 p.m., the Carolina fans are going to be really upset.