Carolina Panthers didn’t run offensive play while holding lead in entire 2023 season

The Carolina Panthers ended their season with a loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday, finishing with a league-worst 2-15 record. To make matters worse, the team will not even get to benefit with the No. 1 pick, as it traded that away this past offseason to the Chicago Bears to draft quarterback Bryce Young.

The Panthers had hopes that Young would lead their offense to new heights under first-year coach Frank Reich, but began the season just 1-10. That led to Reich’s firing as Chris Tabor took over in the interim. The offense continued to struggle, finishing last in the NFL to generate only 4.1 yards per play.

CBS Sports reporter Jonathan Jones revealed a stat Sunday that further explains just how inept Carolina was this season. Jones tweeted that the Panthers did not call an offensive play this season when holding a lead in the fourth quarter.

That is an indictment more of the team as a whole, as Carolina rarely found itself in the lead this season. Young finished his rookie year with 2,738 yards passing, 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

The season ended Sunday without the Panthers scoring a single point in their 9-0 loss to the Buccaneers. Young closes his season by going 11-of-18 passing for just 94 yards as well as adding 24 yards rushing on two carries.

The 2-15 record marks the second-worst in franchise history for Carolina, only topped by a 1-15 effort in 2001. Although the Panthers are unfortunately without their first rounder, they at least own their second through fourth round picks with opportunities to stock up through the draft.

Carolina will have around $39.8 million in cap space for the 2024 season according to Spotrac. If the Panthers hope to improve from this season, they’ll find themselves hard-pressed to add enough talent given the way the offense performed this year.

Panthers fans start petition to get David Tepper to sell team

According to the Charlotte Observer, a petition has been passed around asking to remove Tepper as the owner and over 500 fans already inked their signature. Here is that report:

“More than 500 Carolina Panthers fans have signed a petition to remove David Tepper as the team’s owner after he was filmed throwing what appears to be the contents of a drink into the stands from his suite at EverBank Stadium.”

Ultimately, fan pressure is the only real way to get Tepper to sell. An NFL owner has never been ousted from the league, although it is possible with a 3/4 vote from the other franchise owners. But Tepper’s act, while pretty disgusting, is nowhere near horrid enough to actually justify the NFL stepping in to force a sale, especially after he apologized and accepted his fine with no issue.