Here at Cat Scratch Reader we have counted down the final 100 days leading up to the Carolina Panthers season opener by for at least the past ten years. We’ve always done this by highlighting the current player on the roster whose jersey number matches the day on the countdown. This year, we decided to change that up a bit by counting down our own list of the Top 100 Panthers of all time. This does not correspond to jersey number, does not need to be somebody who wore a jersey, and will in no way be controversial.
#96. Bill Polian
The Pro Football Hall of Fame executive spent a total of 32 seasons in the NFL in varying capacities, including being the General Manager for the first three years of the Carolina Panthers existence. The Panthers were an expansion franchise at that time, which added an extra wrinkle on top of the normal GM duties. Despite those challenges, Polian managed to build a team and a coaching staff that would make the NFC Championship Game in just the team’s second year of existence. The upstart Panthers could not make it past the Green Bay Packers for a Super Bowl birth, but that much success that quickly for an expansion team is rare in professional sports. To put that into perspective, since the 1960s only the Vegas Golden Knights of the NHL were faster to reach their league’s semi finals than the Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars. The Knights actually made the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season, while the Panthers and Jags were in their concurrent second seasons and made their respective Conference Championship games.
Polian’s tenure with the Panthers was short, which is part of why he is so low on this list. Those three seasons saw the team boast a .542 win percentage and cemented the franchise in the city of Charlotte. Polian’s importance should not be understated: having such a successful and likeable team and staff made it much more likely that the city would embrace the team. Without Polian, the Panthers may not be celebrating over 20 years in Charlotte.
