“What was the best thing about the Carolina Panthers’ season?”
“It ended.”
In normal years, such an assessment would be a sarcastic dismissal of a season to forget. And as the Panthers prepare for their Week 17 finale against the New Orleans Saints, it isn’t as though the 2020 season is a year anyone will be looking to revisit. At 5-10, Carolina’s first year under head coach Matt Rhule has been defined by the growing pains of a young & rebuilding team tempering the optimism of whatever success they’ve managed.
But when the clock hits triple zero on Sunday, there’s going to be great cause to celebrate that the Panthers’ 2020 season – and the NFL regular season as a whole – is over. For not too long ago, there was virtually no guarantee that professional football and its teams would see this point at all.
From the time society-wide lockdowns were implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic last Spring, the NFL season was considered to be anything from logistically impossible to very difficult to get through. And even in the leadup to training camp, there had been almost no organized team activities and little certainty the plug wouldn’t be pulled at some point.
“Thinking about it, four months ago, five months ago – you’re sitting at home and doing virtual meetings and you’re trying to figure out what’s going on,” said rookie defensive tackle Derrick Brown. “And you don’t really know anything. No more than hopping on the [Players Association] calls and things.”
There was talk of postponing the season to later in the year if not cancelling it outright. Then, there was drama over the NFL’s COVID protocols, with players expressing their concerns over the protocols in a coordinated response to the league just before the start of training camp.
Racial tensions and social justice issues across the United States did little to help the situation, with suggestions that players would follow the NBA’s lead and boycott games or go on strike in response to racial inequities. And once the first signs of COVID trouble reared their head early in the season, most everyone began waiting for the asteroid of the season being paused, postponed or abandoned to hit.
And yet, with some schedule tweaking and an overall flexible approach to the situation, all 32 teams in the NFL are set to complete their 16 game seasons in Week 17. For the 18 teams that will not make the postseason, that means a full season of football will be officially in the books at the end of the day on Sunday.
And for the players, it means a bit of relief that they made it to the point of cleaning out their lockers and heading home for the offseason.
“I didn’t have any doubt that we were gonna finish – but it’s definitely a blessing,” said cornerback Donte Jackson. “All the guys in the locker room, every guy I’m sure that’s in this building, in this organization, is very grateful that we made it this far throughout the season.”
Photo Credit: Bob Donnan/USA TODAY Sports
After all of the anxiety of the offseason, the Panthers’ Week 1 opener against the Las Vegas Raiders almost had the feel of a fever dream: in a virtually empty Bank of America Stadium, after no preseason and a summer training camp marking the only real football activities, a certain feeling of accomplishment was felt after Carolina put a single game – a close 34-30 loss to the Silver & Black – in the record books.
“I think the first step was getting to Game One. And when we got to Game One, the league found a way, our organization found a way for us to keep going,” said Brown. “Following the protocols from the doctors and everything, it was the best thing for us at the time. Right now, we’re just being able to carry out everything and finish off the season the right way.”
Relative to other teams around the league, the Panthers were fairly fortunate: They did not have to have any of their games rescheduled, as they did not experience the sort of devastating COVID outbreaks that teams like the Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens did. That isn’t to say, though, that the Panthers were not affected by the pandemic.
Carolina had a number of players go on and off the NFL’s COVID-19 Reserve list throughout the year, including guards Tyler Larsen, Chris Reed, and Michael Schofield, cornerback Rasul Douglas, and defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos among others. The Panthers’ most serious COVID issue came off of their Bye Week, when a gathering of players was linked to eight players – including starters like Brown, wide receivers D.J. Moore & Curtis Samuel, linebacker Shaq Thompson, and defensive tackle Zach Kerr – ending up on the list. The team reportedly fined four players $10,000 each for violating COVID protocols in gathering off-site.
Photo Credit: Cato Cataldo/Atlanta Falcons
As in any other year, the Panthers had football-related storms to navigate in addition to the issues brought forth by 2020: All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey missed virtually the entire season, as a high ankle sprain suffered in Week 2 set the tone for a year where three different injuries limited him to as many games. They were snakebit in close games, going 3-8 and falling short whenever they had the ball last. A three-game win streak early in the year gave way to five and three-game losing streaks, extinguishing brief early hopes that Carolina may have a chance at a playoff berth.
Despite everything, the Panthers have reached the end with the arrow pointing upwards on them: At 5-10, they are guaranteed to at least match their record from a season ago. And if they improve to 6-10, they will do so with the satisfaction of costing the New Orleans Saints – the division champions and a noted nemesis – a chance at the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
When viewed from the perspective of operating in a global pandemic, those outcomes are remarkable – pending, of course, the last game of the season being played
“I think I can speak for us as a team when I say that given the circumstances, everything that transpired this year, I think the guys have done a great job of just responding and fighting through the many obstacles and tasks that we’ve been faced with on the field and off the field,” said quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. “I’ll reflect on the entire season once we’ve played this last game – we still have one more game that means a lot to us, so we want to respect the game, respect our opponents, and then do all the reflecting after this game.”
Photo Credit: Brandon Todd/Carolina Panthers
In retrospect, the idea that there wouldn’t be football in 2020 may have been a bit overstated. There was simply too much money and too many livelihoods on the line for the NFL season, however altered, to not be contested. But far beyond the niche of football, there is so much to be considered about the COVID-19 pandemic: Like never before, peoples lives, liberties, and pursuits of happiness are being permanently altered.
Many, whether through loss of life, loss of business, or loss of opportunity, will never be the same.
Come locker room clean out day on Monday, the Carolina Panthers will leave Bank of America Stadium with their health & sanities largely intact, their families cared for, and a complete year of the game they love in the books. Which, after an annus horribillis unlike any seen in recent memory, is about as much as anyone can ask for.
“That’s one thing that you can definitely thank God for and just be grateful and be happy for: That the fans got a chance to watch a full season of football, we got a chance to play, coaches got a chance to coach a full year of football,” said Jackson. “I’m grateful for that, and I’m sure a lot of guys around the league, a lot of guys around the organization would say the same thing.”
“It’s a blessing.”
(Top Photo Via Brandon Todd/Carolina Panthers)
