CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Panthers' 6-2 start to the 2018 season seems like a lifetime ago.
Before it dropped its seventh straight game with a 24-10 loss to Atlanta on Sunday, Carolina found itself tied with the Falcons at halftime, 10 points apiece. Taylor Heinicke, starting at quarterback for the injured Cam Newton, had the Panthers positioned to potentially snap their skid.
That's as close as Carolina came to tasting victory.
Matt Ryan and Calvin Ridley connected for a 75-yard Atlanta touchdown on the first play of the second half. Ryan followed that with a 44-yard touchdown to Mohamed Sanu two drives later, and the Falcons never looked back. As has been the case all season, Carolina's back-breaker was the defense surrendering explosive plays.
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"That's probably the biggest thing I'm going to have difficulty with," Panthers coach Ron Rivera said after the game. "We have tried to put ourselves in position to keep everything in front of us and we have been doing, for the most part a pretty decent job. It's just one or two flare-ups."
The secondary, in particular, has struggled. And it showed again Sunday.
"You can’t wait around to make a play,” cornerback James Bradberry said. "Sometimes we had opportunities to make plays and we didn't make them. … You gotta be one of those guys that goes out there and makes a play."
The now seven-game losing streak begs the question: Where did it all go wrong in Carolina?
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One could look to the point at which the skid started, a 52-21 throttling on Nov. 8 in Pittsburgh. But cracks in the Panthers' armor were showing well before that game.
Since Rivera's arrival in 2011, defense has been the cornerstone of the Panthers. The unit ranked in the top half of DVOA in each of the last six seasons, including twice in the top five (2013 and '15). This season, Carolina's defense ranked 26th in DVOA heading into Week 16.
Excluding Carolina’s season-opening win over Dallas in which it allowed just eight points, the Panthers' defense had allowed 17 or more points in each matchup leading up to the Steelers game. Even in games in which it appeared Carolina was in control, the defense found ways to allow opponents to make things closer than they should have been.
For example, take the Panthers’ 42-28 win over the Buccaneers in Week 9, when a 17-yard touchdown pass from Cam Newton to Greg Olsen put Carolina up 35-7 with 4:01 left in the second quarter. Spotted a 28-point lead, the Carolina defense allowed touchdowns on three of the next four Buccaneer drives.
Of course, the offensive performance in the second half of that game was just as troubling. The Panthers didn't fine end zone again until the fourth quarter.
Devin Funchess (Getty Images)
In its six wins, Carolina has averaged 29.8 points per game. That number drops more than 11 points to 18.2 in losses, including nine points last week against New Orleans and 10 Sunday. It’s hard to win games, let alone snap a losing streak, with that kind of inconsistency.
Aside from the personnel changes the Panthers already know they will need to make in 2019, they also face the possibility of losing three veteran players in Thomas Davis, Ryan Kalil and Julius Peppers. Kalil announced back in September that 2018 would be his last season, as did Davis, before he was slapped with a four-game suspension for violating the NFL's policy on performance enhancing drugs. (Davis has hinted at coming back for one last ride.)
"Not everybody gets to decide when they want to go out," Kalil said after Sunday’s game. "It’s such a brutal, physical game. So I'm very fortunate to be able to finish this season … I leave this place with a lot of great memories."
As for Peppers, he declined to answer when asked if he had played in his last game at Bank of America Stadium: "We will get into that when it’s time. We still have a game left to play. I’ll save that answer for a later date."
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The Panthers have plenty to be excited about for the future. The arrival of Norv Turner as offensive coordinator seems like a boon for the Panthers when taken at face value. Under Turner’s tutelage, Carolina saw a career high in completion percentage for Newton before he was shut down due to a shoulder injury. It also got a career year from Christian McCaffrey and solid outings from Curtis Samuel and rookie D.J. Moore.
"These guys are getting a lot of opportunities to play," Rivera said of the development of Carolina's young players. "It's about really kind of finding our footing as these guys continue to grow and I think become good players for us."
But for now, Carolina needs to figure out what’s ailing the team and make the proper adjustments to avoid a similar tailspin in 2019.