Carolina Panthers: Ron Rivera feeling pressure after four-straight losses

Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera may find himself on the hot seat, partially due to the offense playing well under Norv Turner.

Things aren’t looking good for the Carolina Panthers. Losers of four-straight games, Carolina is now 6-6 and teetering on a breakdown that would push them out of the playoff picture. Questions are beginning to bubble up about who is to blame. If things do not get better and the team can’t salvage this season, head coach Ron Rivera will face the consequences that will most likely result in losing his position.

The last seven weeks for the Panthers have been a rollercoaster of emotions. After pulling out close games to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens, things seem headed in the right direction with a strong victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Then the wheels fell off with the 52-21 defeat at the hand of the Pittsburgh Steelers. From that point forward, the problems just continued to mount and now the team is looking at a massive hole that they must dig themselves out from if they are going to make a late season push.

Still, there is apprehension around whether Rivera is on the hot seat. The reason being may not be all his fault. Rivera has fired both Brady Hoke and Jeff Imamura while taking over defensive play calling responsibilities from defensive coordinator Eric Washington. The defense has under-performed this year in a variety of ways, putting the Panthers in the precarious position of not being able to close out games or make stops when they are needed the most.

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Rivera made his way up through the coaching ranks via the defensive route, and it will be interesting to see if this shift will improve how that group is performing.

But what is even more interesting is the presence of Norv Turner. As Carolina’s defense continues to struggle, the offense is performing very well. They are averaging 376.8 yards and 25.3 points per game. Cam Newton is having one of the best years in recent memory, completing 69.5 percent of his passes and putting together a 24-11 touchdown-interception ratio.

Then you throw in the stellar development of Christian McCaffrey, D.J. Moore, Curtis Samuel and others. There are weapons on the offensive side of the ball for the Panthers and the offense is leveraging them well. Even though there’s an occasional mistake, this unit has continued to keep the Panthers in competition to win majority of the six losses sitting on their record.

One would not be surprised if the decision was made to wrest the reins of control away from Rivera and place them in Turner’s hand. Turner has a lot of experience as a head coach and, even though that hasn’t translated to success in the postseason, it will be interesting to see if the front office caves to pressure to make a change.

The Panthers can still find a way to reach the postseason. At 6-6, though, the group is dangerously close to squandering what was a strong start to the season. Rivera has never experienced back-to-back winning seasons, nor have the Panthers in more than two decades of existence. If the 2018 season continues that trend, it will be hard to see Rivera keeping his job and returning next year.