Panthers fire Ron Rivera after losing to the Redskins

A loss to this year’s rendition of the Washington Redskins is a fireable offense, as Ron Rivera found out on Tuesday.

The Carolina Panthers fell to 5-7 on Sunday with a 29-21 loss at home to the Washington Redskins. It was also their fourth loss in a row. On Tuesday, head coach Ron Rivera was fired.

Secondary coach Perry Fewell will take over as interim head coach for the final four games. Offensive coordinator Norv Turner will become a special assistant to the head coach, with Scott Turner moving from quarterbacks coach to his father’s role vacated coordinator role.

Panthers owner David Tepper seemingly put Rivera on notice after a 29-3 loss to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 11, saying essentially he would not tolerate mediocrity for long. Beyond a 15-1 season and a Super Bowl run in 2015, that’s essentially what Rivera has been with a 76-63-1 record over nearly nine seasons as head coach in Carolina (61-62-1 and three playoff appearances in the other almost eight campaigns).

A loss to the lowly 3-9 Redskins, who of course fired their own head coach in Jay Gruden earlier this season, qualifies as a fireable offense this year. Dolphins head coach Brian Flores is in his first season overseeing a rebuilding/tanking process so he’s safe. Lions head coach Matt Patricia has thus far survived after a loss to Washington in Week 12, but the heat on his seat has turned up nicely.

Rivera was not so lucky in Carolina, lasting less than 48 hours after a dismal loss that all but guaranteed the Panthers will miss the playoffs.

Rivera will likely land on his feet somewhere in the NFL next year as a defensive coordinator, if he wants to work. But maybe he decides to sit out of coaching next season, regroups and becomes a candidate for head coaching jobs in the league around a year from now.