Carolina Panthers Schedule: Five toughest games in 2020
By Luke Tucker
On Thursday night the NFL released schedules for all 32 teams. The Carolina Panthers will play the league’s fifth-toughest slate.
When the Carolina Panthers take the field in Week One against the Las Vegas Raiders, one thing is for sure: the team will look very different than it has in years past. Gone are Panther mainstays Cam Newton, Greg Olsen, and Luke Kuechly. Other impact players such as James Bradberry and Mario Addison have also found new homes. Perhaps the biggest change though is who is at the helm. After the Panthers fired longtime head coach Ron Rivera in December, the team hired Baylor’s Matt Rhule to turn the franchise around.
The former Baylor and Temple coach has won at both of his collegiate stops, and to be frank, he has won quickly. Within three years of being at both schools he took both of his respective programs from the bottom of their conferences to the conference title game. This past season he was an overtime period away from taking his Bears to the College Football Playoffs. While most coaches fail to make the transition from college to the NFL, Panthers owner David Tepper believes that Rhule has what it takes to find long-term success. It won’t come easy though, as Carolina heads into Rhule’s rookie season with the league’s fifth-hardest schedule.
With matchups against Kansas City, Green Bay, and Minnesota, the Panthers will be faced with tough sledding even outside of the division. Add in the Tom Brady-led Buccaneers, the always dangerous Saints, and a motivated Falcons team, and Carolina might just be in the toughest division in football. All total, the Panthers’ 2020 opponents posted a .523 winning-percentage this past season, putting them behind only the Broncos, Jets, Giants, and Falcons in terms of strength of schedule.
Despite the league expecting to play a full 16-game schedule, the new-look Panthers squad is projected by most models to win no more than six games in the upcoming season, with some predicting as few as two or three wins. It’s also worth mentioning that according to one source, Carolina has the second lowest odds in the NFC to make the playoffs. The Panthers have a capable quarterback in Teddy Bridgewater, and with elite offensive weapons in Christian McCaffrey and DJ Moore, they should be able to pull off at least few wins this season. With all that being said though, here are the five toughest games for your Carolina Panthers in 2020.