CHARLOTTE, N.C. — When an NFL quarterback has the ball at the end of a game in which his team trails by a touchdown or less but has a real chance to win, he’s not going to get it done every time.
But he has to get it done some of the time.
And so far this season, Carolina Panthers quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has gotten it done exactly none of the time.
Sunday’s 32-27 loss to Denver dropped Bridgewater to 0-7 in game-winning or game-tying situations late in the fourth quarter in 2020. After a while, you realize it’s no longer a coincidence.
Should Bridgewater start Saturday night at Green Bay? Of course.
Although I was on the Bridgewater bandwagon early this season, in part because his accuracy was in such welcome contrast to Cam Newton’s, I’ve jumped off. I’m having some serious doubts.
Bridgewater doesn’t look like Mr. Right to me. He looks like Mr. Right Now.
Like his surname predicts, Bridgewater is ultimately going to be a bridge quarterback for the Panthers. He may still start in 2021, because he’s far from terrible and maybe he’s still their best option then. But the Panthers are going to have to get somebody else groomed for the most important job on the team.
Bridgewater has had some bad luck and not enough help in these end-of-game situations — he was missing Christian McCaffrey and DJ Moore on Sunday. But he also shows no signs of being the guy who will guide the Panthers on a deep playoff run — even when the team around him gets better in a year or two, which it will.
Panthers head coach Matt Rhule said after the game he still believed Bridgewater was a quarterback you can build a winning program around. “Absolutely,” Rhule said.
But the fact Rhule was even being asked the question gives you an idea of how wrong it’s gone for the Panthers in close games this season.
Tell me if you did something similar to this Sunday afternoon at Bank of America Stadium. With Carolina trailing 32-27 Sunday but on the verge of stuffing the Broncos on defense and getting the ball back with 2:48 to go, I said to one of my colleagues: “How will the Panthers mess this one up?”
The answer this time was they would go “four and out” on offense, not even getting a single first down on the final drive that started at Carolina’s own 27. Bridgewater made two critical mistakes, rushing a third-down play before the two-minute warning and then throwing a 1-yard pass on fourth-and-8 on Carolina’s last offensive play.
Rhule was miffed about the rushed third-down play (an incompletion) and the short throw on fourth down (Curtis Samuel, who caught the ball, was immediately smothered).
Bridgewater took the blame in both cases, and let’s remind everyone right here that the quarterback with the amazing return-from-injury backstory is far from the only problem in these seven botched late-game situations.
Let’s review the other half-dozen quickly, Panthers fans, if you’ve got the stomach for it:
— Las Vegas: The Panthers get too cute on the play call, handling the ball to little-used Alex Armah on fourth-and-1, down 34-30. No gain. Ballgame.
— Chicago: Bridgewater throws a late interception while targeting DJ Moore.
— New Orleans: Bridgewater takes a sack you just can’t take on third-and-11, forcing Joey Slye’s game-tying field goal attempt to come from 65 yards. It’s short.
— Atlanta: See Chicago.
— Kansas City: Bridgewater gets Carolina to midfield and runs out of time; Slye misses a potential game-winning field goal from 67 yards out.
— Minnesota: Bridgewater misses an open TD throw to Moore after a play call comes in late. On the next series, he sets Carolina up nicely, but Slye misses, indoors, from 54.
Three missed Slye field goals; two Bridgewater interceptions and one horrendous call by offensive coordinator Joe Brady. And then there’s Sunday and the “four and out,” which started with a first-down sack in which the quarterback had hardly any chance to get rid of the ball.
There have been all kinds of errors, and people have been saying “my bad” all season at Bank of America Stadium.
“You can say ‘My bad,’ “ Rhule said. “(But) you can only say that so many times.”
Exactly. Carolina (4-9) needs to win a few close games in the fourth quarter to remind themselves it’s even possible.
And one more thing, something a lot more important than that: In the first or second round of the 2020 NFL draft, the Panthers are going to need to take a quarterback.
