Panthers’ Frank Reich fired: Anemic offense, lots of losses forced David Tepper’s hand

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — David Tepper is in the market for a coach. Again.

The Carolina Panthers owner and hedge fund billionaire fired Frank Reich on Monday, less than a year after choosing the former Indianapolis Colts coach over interim coach Steve Wilks and seven other candidates as the franchise’s first offensive-leaning head coach.

The Panthers liked Reich’s quarterback background and the all-star staff he promised to assemble. Tepper gave him a four-year contract and opened his wallet for a lineup of proven assistants (to include Jim Caldwell and Dom Capers) and a pair of up-and-coming coordinators in Thomas Brown and Ejiro Evero.

It all looked good on paper. In practice it was a disaster.

Reich’s offense — from a Week 1 loss at Atlanta through Sunday’s misery at Nashville — wasn’t just unproductive. It was unwatchable. And the Panthers invested too much in rookie quarterback Bryce Young to let that continue another game longer.

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Reich’s firing represents a colossal miss by Tepper, whose hands-on style and quick-trigger history of canning coaches and executives demand a thorough self-examination before he botches another hire.

The announcement Monday did not address the future of general manager Scott Fitterer, whose failure to surround Young with enough playmakers or capable offensive linemen helped result in one of the worst offenses in the Panthers’ 29-year history.

The Panthers have the NFL’s worst record and rank 28th or lower in nearly every major offensive category, including rushing, passing, scoring and sacks allowed. They don’t even have the silver lining of a top-three pick: That belongs to the Chicago Bears.

Reich, the starting quarterback for the first game in Panthers history, leaves Carolina with a 1-10 mark. Meanwhile, the Panthers are 30-63 since Tepper bought the team — a .323 winning percentage that ranks ahead of only the Jets (.301) during that span. Clearly, this is a problem that extends beyond the three coaches Tepper has fired (and the two he axed from his MLS team).

While special teams coordinator Chris Tabor takes over as interim, Tepper again is expected to focus his search on an offensive-minded coach with the hopes of coaxing more out of Young than Reich and his staff did. The Panthers traded their 2024 first-round pick, two second-round selections and wide receiver DJ Moore to acquire the No. 1 pick from Chicago to take Young, the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner from Alabama who has ranked among the league’s worst passers statistically all season.

Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was Tepper’s top target last winter before the Asheville, N.C., native and former North Carolina quarterback removed himself from consideration. Tepper should go after Johnson again, though Johnson will attract other interest and it’s fair to suggest the Panthers’ job is less appealing than it was a year ago.

Tepper could go big-game hunting for Bill Belichick, Jim Harbaugh or Sean McVay, whom the Panthers would have to trade for. He should also take a long look at Houston Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, who’s helped guide C.J. Stroud to one of the best seasons ever by a rookie quarterback.

Besides the millions Tepper will offer the next coach — not an insignificant consideration — he might have trouble convincing anyone to work for him.

The Athletic was among the outlets that called for Tepper to hire Wilks, who earned the respect of the locker room with his honest approach and established a physical identity with a tough defense and downhill rushing attack. The Panthers went 6-6 under Wilks, now the San Francisco 49ers’ defensive coordinator.

But Tepper was locked in on an offensive coach: Seven of the nine candidates came from that side of the ball. Just as importantly, Tepper wanted the anti-Matt Rhule, a college coach who didn’t connect with professional players. Where Rhule and the bulk of his staff lacked NFL chops, Reich had decades of experience as a player and coach in the league.

Tepper said in January he made a mistake in hiring a CEO-type head coach in Rhule, adding: “You want to get somebody who’s really good on offense or really good on defense. And we think that Frank is really good on offense.”

But hiring an offensive coordinator Reich had never worked with — and then merging the Rams’ concepts Brown brought from L.A. with Reich’s system — was ill-conceived. Injuries to starting guards Austin Corbett and Brady Christensen didn’t help, as opponents disrupted the 5-foot-10 Young’s timing and downfield vision with interior pressure.

Throw in receivers who had trouble separating and Young’s hesitancy at times to throw into tight windows and it was the perfect storm for the rookie, who seemed to lose confidence and regress as the sacks and losses stacked up like IHOP pancakes.

Reich probably could have picked up a few wins and bought himself more time had he sat Young down for a stretch in favor of Andy Dalton. But Reich remained true to the team’s long-term goals and stuck with Young, even when he threw three pick sixes in a three-game span in November.

Reich was not as resolute when it came to Brown, the 37-year-old coordinator. After the Panthers lost their first six games, Reich handed the play calling to Brown during the bye week but resumed the role three weeks later. The Panthers finished with a season-low 187 yards against Dallas in Reich’s return as play caller.

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Like Ron Rivera, whom Tepper fired in 2019, Reich is an honest and decent man who got teary-eyed recalling how he gave Brown a game ball after the Panthers’ only win against Houston.

But while Stroud soared in Houston, Reich and the rest of the offensive staff couldn’t get Young untracked. That 33-year-old Adam Thielen was seemingly Young’s first, second and third option on many plays was evidence Reich didn’t have enough pieces around the rookie QB to be successful.

That’s on Fitterer and Tepper, who said during the draft weekend Young’s point guard-like ability to distribute the ball meant the Panthers didn’t need “as many elite receivers.” That turned out to be a wildly flawed assessment, one that helped cost Reich his job.

Now Tepper gets another chance to try to make things right. His history suggests that will be easier said than done. Much.

(Photo: Silas Walker / Getty Images)

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