Blowout Loss Spotlights Toothless Panthers’ Shocking Demise

The Carolina Panthers are done. It’s over. They’re deader than disco.

If they are mathematically eliminated or not at this point is irrelevant. This team looks like it no longer cares. The fire that drove them last season is extinguished. They look lost, disheveled, like they have no you-know-whats to give.

There were two scenes from Sunday’s 40-7 loss in Seattle that showed just how beaten the Panthers were in the game, and are on the season. One was the injured Luke Kuechly, on the sideline, screaming, his face wrenched in anger after the Seahawks returned the opening second-half kickoff for a score. Kuechly was one of the few players on the team that showed any emotion during the game, and he wasn’t even playing.

The other was Cam Newton on the bench for the opening series of the game. Afterward, during his postgame press conference, coach Ron Rivera said he sat Newton for the opening series for violating the travel dress code, as ESPN’s David Newton reported. 

Rivera said the same rules apply to all players, even star quarterbacks. That may be true, but most of the time, these types of things are handled quietly, and usually with a fine.

It seems unlikely—and this is speculation—that Rivera benched last year’s MVP simply because he didn’t wear a tie (the reason cited to WBTV’s Ashley Stroehlein). This is something deeper and a sign of …

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