The Carolina Panthers of the National Football League named Perry Fewell their head coach on Tuesday. Fewell takes over from Ron Rivera, who was fired earlier today.
Fewell, a native of Cramerton, North Carolina, has head coaching experience in the NFL as he was the interim head coach with the Buffalo Bills back in 2009. In seven games, Fewell had a record of three wins and four losses.
Fewell has been an assistant coach in the NFL since 1998. He was the Jacksonville Jaguars defensive backs coach from 1998-2002 and again from 2017-2018, the St. Louis Rams defensive backs coach from 2003-2004, the Chicago Bears defensive backs in 2005, the Bills defensive co-ordinator from 2006-2009, the New York Giants defensive co-ordinator from 2010-2014 and the Washington Redskins defensive backs coach in 2015-16. For the first 12 games this season, Fewell was the Panthers defensive backs coach.
It has been quite simply a miserable season for the Panthers. Even though the team is tied for second in the NFC South with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Panthers are all intensive purposes out of a playoff spot. With a record of five wins and seven losses, they have no chance of catching the New Orleans Saints, who have already clinched the division with a record of 10 wins and two losses.
The Panthers got off to a rocky start when Cam Newton injured his foot and has not played since week two. When Carolina made a quarterbacking change and brought in Kyle Allen, the Panthers had won four straight games to move to two games above .500. However, over the last six games, the Panthers have only won once, and have lost their last four games. On Sunday, they lost to an equally struggling Washington Redskins team 29-21.
The fact that Carolina lost to a Washington team that is downright terrible by nine points at home was simply the writing on the wall for Rivera. In nine seasons in Carolina, Rivera had a record of 76 wins, 63 losses and one tie. In three of those seasons in Carolina, Rivera had double digits in wins, including a 15 win season in 2015.
