Gerber: Another Panthers coaching change could happen much sooner than you think

By Clark Gerber, WRAL Sports contributor

Another week, another embarrassing loss for the Carolina Panthers, who now sit alone at the bottom of the NFL with a 1-8 record.

Normally when a team is this bad, it can look forward to the draft in April and its fans can start fantasizing about their favorite college players.

Not this year's Panthers who, as we know, have already traded away their first round pick.

It's a pretty hopeless situation that certainly needs another shake-up, and there's mounting evidence that head coach Frank Reich could be one of the fall guys.

But I'm not talking about after the season.

I'm predicting that Reich is going to be fired by Christmas... and maybe even in time for Thanksgiving dinner.

Here's why:

1. He deserves it

If you look back to the end of last season, the Panthers had found a clear identity under interim head coach Steve Wilks. They leaned on a physical run game with a defensive attitude to match.

So far under Frank Reich, Carolina has no such identity. In fact, as our own Chris Lea suggested on the latest episode of "Panthers Playbook," the team looks as if they were better off under Matt Rhule!

It seems dramatic, I know, but not really once you take a step back and break it down.

A huge part of the reason Reich was hired in the first place is because he is supposedly a "quarterback guru" who could help develop the team's next franchise QB.

That hasn't happened.

Whatever your feelings on Bryce Young (and I'm not giving up on him yet), he certainly hasn't looked like a well-coached or well-prepared player this season.

This Panthers offense just scored ZERO touchdowns against the Chicago Bears, and has often been described as lifeless, boring and unimaginative -- basically the exact opposite of what Bryce Young was in college.

Even if we're being kind, you have to say that Reich has done a poor job getting the most out of Young's rare talents. So what would you say... he's doing here?

The question of offensive play calling has also become messy this week. Reich turned over those duties to offensive coordinator Thomas Brown during the bye, then announced Wednesday that he's taking them back after only three games. As if that's going to help anything.

And then there's Thursday night's decision to attempt a game-tying 59-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter.

Reich admitted that, in hindsight, he should have left the offense on the field to try to convert a crucial 4th down. But in the same breath, he also tried to hide behind the team's analytics department, saying there was around a 40 percent chance that Eddy Pineiro would make his kick.

I'm not sure what the disconnect was here, but after watching Pineiro come up four yards short, then look to the sidelines as if to say "I told you so," there's a zero percent chance that was the right call.

2. David Tepper's track record

Say what you will about Panthers owner David Tepper, but he has been very clear about two things since buying the team in 2018.

He is not a patient man and he is not afraid of taking drastic action.

Neither of those things bode well for Frank Reich, who has already publicly shared details about "not fun" one-on-one meetings with Tepper this season. Remember that?

Tepper has already fired four coaches during his time as a sports franchise owner – Ron Rivera and Matt Rhule for the Panthers, plus two more for Charlotte FC.

Three of those firings happened mid-season.

While it would be surprising for most NFL owners to fire their first-year head coach, it would not be for Tepper. In fact, it would be very on-brand.

3. GM Scott Fitterer is likely gone too

Frank Reich likely won't be alone on his way out the door. General Manager Scott Fitterer will be close behind. Heck, he might even lead the way.

Fitterer's time with the Panthers has come with its share of bold proclamations about "being in on every trade" and "never picking in the top ten again," but the results have been severely lacking.

The Panthers are 13-30 since Fitterer was hired in 2021, the third worst mark in the league.

Early returns on his three draft classes are not great to say the least. The same can be said of free agency, excluding Adam Thielen and Austin Corbett.

But Fitterer's tenure will likely be defined by his three major trade decisions. And so far, it looks like he's struck out on all of them.

Dealing Christian McCaffrey, keeping Brian Burns and trading up for Bryce Young were all questionable decisions on their own, but when put together, they're a mess.

McCaffrey is exactly the kind of player that could help a young quarterback like Young. Losing him only makes sense if you wanted to do a complete franchise reset... but then why hold on to Burns? Especially if the Los Angeles Rams were willing to give you two first round picks for him?

Fitterer's inconsistency has put the Panthers in a spot where they are now both the worst team in the league and don't have the draft resources to capitalize on it.

The results clearly aren't good enough and the Panthers are going to move on from him. And when a new GM comes in, he's likely going to want his own head coach to partner with.

4. Rumblings from national reporters are getting louder

Here's where I really start to believe that Reich could be fired in a matter of weeks, if not days.

National reporters are some of the most plugged-in people in the sport, who typically don't have to worry as much about maintaining relationships as most local news media.

So when The Athletic's Diana Russini said Tuesday that Frank Reich is on a "short leash" and needs a dramatic turnaround to save his job, it grabbed my attention.

The coaching status of a 1-8 team isn't something that most fans outside the Carolinas are going to be clamoring for. It seems to me, that you'd only bring it up if there was some actual smoke that could imminently become a full-blown fire.

5. Look at the schedule and the point spread

The Panthers are getting set to host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, after which time, they'll almost certainly be 1-9.

With the exception of a super strange Week 3 loss to the Cardinals, Dallas has absolutely clobbered the bad teams on their schedule.

They beat the Giants by 40, the Jets by 20, the Patriots by 35, the Rams by 23 and the Giants again by 32.

This is the exact kind of team that is built to embarrass the 2023 Carolina Panthers. Another 30-point blowout would surprise absolutely nobody.

So why on earth are the Cowboys only 10.5 point favorites?

What do the oddsmakers know that the public doesn't?

Perhaps that the Carolina head coach will be making his last stand to save his job?

It's only a theory, but the folks in the desert are definitely up to something.

I wonder what the over/under would be on how many more days Frank Reich has left with the Panthers.

Because whatever it is, I'm probably taking the under.