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The Carolina Panthers announced Tuesday that they have fired head coach Ron Rivera following Week 13’s loss to Washington. The loss was the fourth straight the Carolina, which essentially eliminated the Panthers from playoff contention in the NFC.
Secondary coach Perry Fewell takes over as the interim head coach, while Norv Turner becomes the special assistant to the head coach and quarterbacks coach Scott Turner takes over as offensive coordinator. https://t.co/08g7jx6i2p
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) December 3, 2019
Secondary coach Perry Fewell will take over as head coach with veteran Norv Turner serving as a special assistant the rest of the season. Scott Turner will take over as offensive coordinator.
The Panthers’ season had been going according to plan through the first six games, with the team sitting at 4-2. But the defense widely underperformed after looking promising, surrendering at least 24 points in five of the next six games, all of those being losses. Sure, the injury to QB Cam Newton wasn’t planned, but Kyle Allen had filled in admirably and there’s a little guy named Christian McCaffrey on offense as well. The issue was on the offensive line, with Allen taking 39 sacks in just 10 games this season.
Fewell is only in for the last three games with the interim tag, so it’ll be interesting to see which direction the Panthers go with the new head coach. Turner has experience in that role and has run successful offenses in the past with the Chargers and and ‘90s Cowboys. They’ll likely want to bring someone in who can get the most out of CMC while also fixing the O-Line and defense. They could opt to bring in some fresh blood with a college coach, like Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley or an established coordinator like 49ers DC Robert Saleh.