Gerber: The 8 plays that got Frank Reich fired

By Clark Gerber, WRAL Sports contributor

Urban Meyer and Nathaniel Hackett.

Those two names are punchlines in the modern NFL, synonymous with absolute failure and incompetence. They are, by all accounts, two of the worst head coaches in league history.

Both of them lasted longer than Frank Reich did in Carolina.

No, really. Look it up. Meyer lasted 13 games for the 2021 Jaguars and Hackett coached 15 games for last season's Broncos.

Reich made it only 11 games with the Panthers before David Tepper ousted him on Monday -- the earliest firing in the NFL since 1978.

So how did we get here?

Well, for starters, we may be dealing with a historically impatient owner in Tepper. Since taking over in 2018, this is already the third time he's fired a Panthers head coach mid-season. (Charlotte FC is a whole different can of worms that we're not even going to get into today.)

There's also the season-long struggles on offense, an area that was supposed to be Reich's forte.

This year's Panthers are averaging 4.1 yards per play, which is the worst in franchise history. Their 265.9 yards and 15.7 points per game are second worst, ahead of only the 2010 team, which finished 2-14 with Jimmy Clausen at quarterback.

It's been a bad year all around, but certain moments loom larger than the rest.

Eight plays led directly to Frank Reich's early dismissal, and helped define his disastrous tenure:

1. Week 4 vs. Vikings - DJ Wonnum returns Bryce Young's fumble for a touchdown

This play gets the first nod because it was the turning point in a very winnable game.

If Bryce Young eludes Harrison Smith, or at least holds on to the football while being sacked, the Panthers likely are able to extend their lead to two-scores, at home, against a Vikings team that was really struggling at the time.

Instead, the ball popped free, Wonnum scored and Minnesota came back to win, kicking off a 6-3 stretch that currently has them in playoff position.

I'm not saying the same thing would have happened to the Panthers if this play never happened... but who knows?

A win in Week 4 at least temporarily halts the downward spiral Carolina's been in all season. And some increased confidence maybe could have helped the team in subsequent weeks.

2. Week 9 vs. Colts - Kenny Moore II picks off Bryce Young for his second pick-six of the day

This play didn't flip the game like the first one did, but it did have a huge impact on the perception of Bryce Young's (lack of) progress.

Carolina, remember, was coming off its first win the week prior, in which Young delivered a game-winning drive over Houston. There was hope. Maybe even a little momentum.

This play killed it.

Not only did it knock the Panthers out of the game (they were positioned to pull within one score and instead went down by 17), the throw itself was so bad that the postgame narrative became about the two pick-sixes and nothing else.

When the rookie QB continued to struggle over his next couple of games, whispers grew louder that Young was actually regressing and getting worse.

And we can assume that Frank Reich's leash got even shorter.

3. Week 10 at Bears - Reich sends out Eddy Pineiro for a 59-yard field goal, which comes up WAY short

Eddy Pineiro's career long was, and still is, a 56-yard field goal.

On a cold night in Chicago (the Windy City) Reich decided to send his kicker out for a 59-yard kick to potentially tie the game with under two minutes to play.

There couldn't have been very many people who expected this kick to go through, least of all Pineiro, who looked to the sideline and shrugged when his attempt landed 3-4 yards short.

And yet, there was Reich in the postgame press conference, insisting that the "pure percentage play" was to kick it. Saying that the chances of a make were "higher than" going for it.

Maybe that is what the team's analytics department actually told him, but when the Amazon broadcast flashed "21%" as the make probability, I think that most people (Pineiro included) would have taken the under.

Reich's call directly impacted the outcome of a prime time game, against the very team that currently owns Carolina's 1st round draft pick... and its best receiver.

It was at this point that a coaching change became a matter of "when," not "if."

4. Week 11 vs. Cowboys - DaRon Bland pick-sixes Bryce Young

Nobody expected the Panthers to beat the Cowboys at any point, and this was actually more of a great play by Bland than a bad throw by Young.

However, it did turn a semi-respectable showing at home into a blowout, and gave Young his third pick-six in as many weeks.

The rookie also happened to finish the game with a career-low in passing yards, so the perception that he was regressing reached a fever pitch.

Not coincidentally, so did reports that Reich was squarely on the hot seat.

5. Week 12 at Titans, 11:13 1st Q. - Pitch play to Miles Sanders loses 8 yards on 3rd & 1

With the backstory now out of the way, here's where we get into the nitty-gritty of why Tepper chose this week to pull the trigger and fire Frank Reich.

Like the Minnesota game, this Sunday's matchup against the Titans was very winnable, but plays like this perfectly illustrate why it didn't happen.

This drive -- the first of the game for the Panthers -- started with Bryce Young on a designed rollout, and resulted in an easy 22-yard gain to Jonathan Mingo.

(See? You actually can scheme guys open sometimes! Why was there not more of this?)

It was crisp, it was aggressive, it was a different look for the defense and it worked.

The pitch play to Miles Sanders was none of those things.

It's difficult to see in the clip, but it looked like Tommy Tremble was supposed to chip Denico Autry in order to allow Sanders to get to the edge.

That didn't happen and Autry had a free path to blowing up the play, which looked clunky and took a long time to develop anyway.

So either Tremble forgot his assignment and failed to chip, or the play was actually designed to turn the defensive end loose and pray he didn't make the tackle.

I can't decide which is worse, but both are a reflection on coaching and led to an ugly end to an otherwise promising start.

6. Week 12 at Titans, 3:06 2nd - Arden Key strip sack on Bryce Young, leads to second Tennessee TD

Bryce Young isn't the only first round pick failing to meet expectations this season. Ikem Ekwonu has been up-and-down... ok, mostly down in his sophomore campaign.

On this play, the NC State product got flat-out embarrassed by Arden Key, who gets a free shot on Young and forces a fumble.

Due to his frame, Ekwonu is likely going to be vulnerable to a good speed rush for most of his career. But this is something that you did not see from him last year.

Ekwonu had a rough afternoon against the Titans and is clearly playing worse. That could be entirely on him or it could be that he's not being properly supported by the coaching staff and the scheme.

That sounds like excuse-making, but it doesn't mean it's not true. Players don't jive with certain schemes all the time. Just look at Jeremy Chinn on defense.

What's clear is that, for whatever reason, Ekwonu is not playing up to his skill level this season, and is endangering the future franchise quarterback in the process.

The strip sack was harmful because it gave Tennessee an instant red zone opportunity and led to a touchdown just two plays later.

It also shined a glaring spotlight on the fact that the team's last two first round picks were under-performing, with no apparent plan in place to support their strengths.

7. Week 12 at Titans, 0:38 2nd - Incomplete pass on 3rd & 2 leads to Tennessee FG before half

No video of this play, so you'll have to bear with me.

The Panthers had the ball 3rd & 2 at their own 18-yard-line, with under a minute to go until intermission.

The odds of them scoring were not great, but also not zero because they had timeouts in their pocket.

You know who didn't have timeouts? The Titans.

A Panthers run play on 3rd & 2 would have resulted in one of two outcomes:

1. Pick up a first down, take a timeout and preserve your chance at a late field goal.
2. Get stuffed to bring up fourth down, Titans can't stop the clock and the half is over.

Instead, for no reason whatsoever, Carolina gave Tennessee a gift by throwing incomplete on 3rd & 2 and stopping the clock.

The Titans got the ball back with 28 seconds left and, sure enough, were able to pick up 27 yards and set up their own late field goal to make it 17-3.

Those three points didn't end up impacting the outcome of the game, but only because of the Panthers' aforementioned incompetence on offense.

For most NFL teams, winning the last two minutes of the first half can be the difference between winning and losing. Heck, it might even be the difference between making the playoffs and missing them.

Say what you want about David Tepper as a meddling owner who doesn't know football, but even he understands that.

8. Week 12 at Titans, 1:55 4th - WR screen to DJ Chark gains 0 yards on 4th & 6

Here it is. The nail in the coffin.

With the game on the line, facing a 4th & 6, the Panthers ostensibly had two plays called out of the two minute warning.

Bryce Young saw the Titans were showing blitz, so he checked to a wide receiver screen intended for DJ Chark.

You know the rest.

The play was blown up for no gain. Game over. Panthers lose again.

Now, in theory, a screen pass should work against the blitz because you can gain a numbers advantage on the edge.

The problem for the Panthers is that they call roughly 4,327 screen passes every week. This wasn't fooling anyone.

On top of that, the offensive line looked slow as molasses trying to pick up a block, while Chark (who has been one of the worst in the league at producing yards after the catch) caught the ball 4 yards behind the line of scrimmage.

Chark would have needed to pick up 10 yards after the catch to get the first down and extend the game. His average is 2.9, which is almost exactly what he got.

Other than that though, great play call!

Look, in no world did I expect Carolina to pick up the first down in this situation. Not the way they've been playing all year.

But the spinelessness of calling that screen -- even if it was the secondary play -- is the kind of the thing that you can't come back from.

Football is supposed to be a game of inches, but under Frank Reich, the Panthers seemed to be miles away from where they needed to be.

Maybe that's not fair. Maybe if these eight plays had gone differently, the team would be having a completely different season and wouldn't be the laughing stock of the league.

It's a nice thought, but the reality is that the Panthers are at rock bottom and facing quite possibly the most important head coaching hire in their history.

Let's hope the next guy lasts longer than this one did.