SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 27: Head coach Ron Rivera of the Carolina Panthers looks on from the sidelines against the San Francisco 49ers during an NFL football game at Levi’s Stadium on October 27, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
Ron Rivera is a quality NFL head coach, but he’s the wrong guy to guide the Panthers to a positive future that doesn’t include Cam Newton.
Panthers fans may not want to hear it, but Carolina is set to enter into a period of serious transition. Unfortunately for Ron Rivera, he’s not the right head coach to pilot the franchise towards a successful future.
The team’s inept performance at home against the Falcons should prove to be the final nail in the veteran head coach’s coffin. Atlanta is playing better football as of late, but they still entered the game with a record of 2-7. A Panthers team in the thick of the Wild Card race should have been able to handle a division rival with relatively nothing to play for. Instead, Carolina looked like the team just playing out the season in their ugly defeat.
It’s unfair to call for Rivera’s head due to just one ugly defeat. That’s not what’s happening here. The case for dismissing Rivera goes much deeper than Sunday’s inexcusable loss. The need to change head coach’s in Carolina is largely tied to the team’s quarterback situation. The Panthers appear poised to turn the page from Cam Newton to Kyle Allen. Rivera isn’t the right type of coach to help Allen become the team’s new franchise signal caller.
Instead, the Panthers need to follow the recent NFL trend of trying to attract a young, bright offensive mind who can help Allen reach his full potential. Rivera deserves credit for trying to become more aggressive on offense in recent years, but hiring Norv Turner to spread things out isn’t a big enough step. More significant changes are required to bring the Carolina offense into the future.
Don’t forget, Rivera wasn’t hired by current Panthers owner David Tepper. The team’s billionaire owner is anxious to put his stamp on every aspect of his relatively new purchase. The biggest change he can make is to change the team’s quarterback and head coach in the same offseason. That might turn into a temporary downturn for the on field product in Carolina, but it would increase the chances of the team developing into a legitimate Super Bowl contender sometime in the next three to five years.
Rivera is a veteran coach who has proven he’s capable of presiding over a quality playoff team. He isn’t the right coach to help a young offense grow into a prolific juggernaut. That should cost him his job in Carolina when the 2019 season is said and done.