Said it before, but that night in Pittsburgh two years ago f***ed over this franchise, they haven't been the same since. The 2015 season was lightning in a bottle. Not that they were setting the world on fire at the time, but they were 6-2 going into that game and were on the verge of back-to-back winning seasons for the first time as a franchise. Back-to-back winning seasons would have been huge.
Now for real, they probably would have ended up as a Wild-Card again but they would have finally gotten some continuity under them. Instead, I saw one too many times last season Luke Kuchely having no choice but to carry the defense on his back, and many a times a shot of him after a TD or something that had that "I'm done, I can't do this anymore" look on his face.
The Panthers are who they are, a mediocre 7-9 franchise that might occasionally make it to a Super Bowl or win a division title but they'll always go right back to 7-9 the next year until proven otherwise. If this franchise couldn't become steady with a franchise MVP QB, a steady linebacker in Thomas Davis, and two hall of famers in Olsen and Kuechly, and possibly another one in CMac, albeit CMac came into the picture late, then it may not be meant to be. It is what it is.
At least our Hockey squad won a Cup and has other deep playoff runs. They also appear to be on the rise at the moment.