Interim head coach Steve Wilks and his Carolina Panthers kept pounding until the bitter end. And to his credit, that bitter end should’ve come a lot sooner than it did.
After Matt Rhule was dismissed on Oct. 10, Wilks began to pick up the pieces of a shattered organization. (Perhaps we can say that he wasn’t the step-coach, but the coach who stepped up.)
The quarterback situation was a dire one at the time—as their big offseason acquisition in Baker Mayfield had faltered without a comfortable backup plan in hand. And just one week into his tenure, the front office shipped away their best player in running back Christian McCaffrey and their No. 2 wide receiver in Robbie Anderson.
But even through the early struggles and the outside assumptions of a “tank,” Wilks was only concerned with “winning the day.” And that’s what he did—reviving the 1-5 Panthers into a 6-9 playoff contender heading into Sunday’s showdown with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Unfortunately for Wilks and his cardiac cats, their improbable claim to the division title was not to be—as Tom Brady, Mike Evans and those Bucs staged a furious comeback to clinch the NFC South and knock Carolina out of contention. Was Wilks’ admirable and inspiring run, however, enough to warrant an interim-less title as head coach of the Panthers moving forward?
You tell us!
