Sunday’s defeat to the Dallas Cowboys clinched the Carolina Panthers their sixth consecutive losing season—a new franchise record for the 29-year-old organization. And no group has suffered more through this shameful stretch than their fans.
Head coach Frank Reich spoke to reporters following the 33-10 loss, their ninth in just 10 games thus far. He was asked about being unable to immediately turn things around in Charlotte during his first year at the helm.
“No, it’s very frustrating,” Reich replied. “When you work hard and you believe in the guys you’re doin’ it with, and I believe in our coaches and players, not getting results you want is frustrating. So I’m frustrated, most of all, for them. But I’m certainly frustrated for the fans as well.
“I’ve been in this game a long time. I’ve had a great appreciation for fan bases wherever I’ve been and what that means to a team and what that means to a city. So I understand the level of frustration by the fans. We had the change here that we had and you start to set things in place to make a change. And you want it to happen overnight and sometimes it takes longer than you want. But you have to keep your head down, be strong-willed, keep the vision clear and come to work every day and you gotta be able to fight through the tough times.”
The tough times continued after Reich made another change of his own, as he reclaimed play-calling duties from offensive coordinator Thomas Brown to start the week. Carolina, however, amassed all of 187 yards and scored just one touchdown in another frustrating afternoon.
