Week 4 was not Frank Reich’s finest hour—and he certainly knows it.
The Carolina Panthers head coach took the lectern on Monday, about 22 hours after his team’s frustrating 21-13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. That defeat, their fourth straight to start the season, included quite a few head-scratching decisions—including a bungling of the game clock to close out the first half.
Buy Panthers TicketsAfter an interception from linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill set them up at their own 44-yard line with 46 seconds remaining, the Panthers began the drive with a 15-yard completion from quarterback Bryce Young to wide receiver Adam Thielen. The tackle was made at the 34-second mark—and despite still having two timeouts in their pocket, Carolina opted to rush to the line for their next snap.
That snap came all the way down to the 12-second mark, after Young tossed an incompletion down the right sideline.
Reich was asked about the decision to not call for a timeout.
“In hindsight, I should’ve called timeout. I should’ve called timeout,” he said. “That was my mistake. Fortunately, Eddy [Piñeiro] bailed me out and made the long field goal. Had I called timeout, we probably . . . maybe been able to get a little bit closer on the field goal—give us a better chance. So, yeah, that was just my mistake. I should’ve called timeout.”
Piñeiro booted through a career-best 56-yarder to put a bow on the half, giving the Panthers a 13-7 at the break.
Reich also shouldered the blame for burning their first timeout of the half during his postgame presser yesterday. He told reporters that he had called a play exclusively for wide receiver Adam Thielen, who wasn’t even on the field at the time. The confusion nearly caused a delay of game penalty, which has been a recurring issue for Carolina’s struggling offense.
