The Carolina Panthers started the 2026 season with one of, if not the worst Week 1 defensive performance of all time. They gave up 59 points to the Chicago Bears while getting run all over. It looked like a college football game between an SEC school and a group of five school. There were gaping openings to run through and the Bears offensive line was living on the Panthers side of the line of scrimmage.
Things started trending up after that game. The defense throttled the Falcons with backup quarterbacks
in Week 2 and then more than held their own in subsequent weeks. Week 1 was starting to look like an aberration. Then yesterday happened. The Buccaneers picked up 322 yards of offense and scored 43 points while throwing the ball just 11 times. A lot of the points can be blamed on things outside of the defense’s control, but the yardage cannot. Only four of the Buccaneers’ 34 carries in the first three quarters were stopped for zero or negative yardage, and one of those was because Tre Tucker slipped in the backfield. Bucky Irving and Kenny Gainwell combined for 194 yards on 38 carries. The defense was simply powerless to stop the Bucs’ running game.
It’s the second time this season we’ve seen the defense completely lost trying to defend and opponent’s ground attack. It’s not a dominant front seven on paper, but it’s not supposed to be this bad. Derrick Brown is here. The linebackers are good. The other players along the front are serviceable to good. It’s a group that should at least have a fighting chance against anyone, even if it’s not perfect.
So with two games like this now on the season, does Ejiro Evero’s seat start to get hot?
MY TAKE: I think it has to be. I’ve been somewhat resistant to the Evero hot seat talk in the past because he’s been dealt some pretty bad cards on his side of the ball since he got here. But the front office has invested a lot in getting that side of the ball up to par. That has improved overall outcomes, but there have still been a few too many meltdowns in high leverage spots. The defense is bottom ten in the league in opponent third down percentage and in penalties. It’s anecdotal, but it feels like an inordinate number of those errors are coming in situations where the defense should be counted on to get off the field.
And now we have two instances in six games where Evero’s defense was thoroughly dominated top to bottom by an opposing offensive line. It does not feel like results are improving at the same rate as the roster, and that calls into question if Evero is the right fit as defensive coordinator for this team. I don’t think it’s time to fire him right now, but we’ve definitely reached a point where questions need to be asked.
