Why The Carolina Panthers Are Lucky to Have John Fox

(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Let's be honest—John Fox is not the type of coach that will dazzle viewers and fans with offensive genius. His teams won't light up the scoreboard or set the league on fire, but they'll get the job done. And on any given Sunday, more often than not, that equates to a win.

It amazes me that, in this day and age, so many fans are willing to get rid of a coach so quickly. The playoff game against Arizona was a disaster, but let's look at the bigger picture here.

First of all, in seven seasons under Fox, not once have we done worse than 7-9. Think about that. Sure it's mediocre, but we've never had an awful season with him as coach.

He has a strong overall record. He's 63-49 in the regular season, and 5-3 in the postseason. That equates to 68-52. Bottom line...we'll always be in the hunt.

Here's something interesting to chew over. Fox has as many playoff wins in seven years as Jeff Fisher has in over thirteen years of coaching. Furthermore, Fox has the same number of playoff wins as Marty Schottenheimer—accumulated in over twenty years of head coaching.

The Panthers are one of only three NFC teams to have reached two or more Conference Championship games this decade, the others being the Eagles and the Giants.

It's a tribute to Fox's tenure that we could be consistently competitive amongst so much change.

Believe me, I wish that at times he would be more agressive and blow out a team. But trust me, it would cost us the game more often than win it. We simply don't run the style of offense that allows for much risk taking.

If the Panthers are playing to expectations then they will run the ball, create havoc on defense, and make the occasional big play in the passing game to keep the other team honest. And when that happens we're going to win. Plain and simple.

After all the success we've had I just can't put a guy under the bus after one bad, albeit horrible game. The Panthers had a bad day against the Cardinals, but we have to give the guy another chance before it's anything more than one bad game.

In the modern NFL, I feel fortunate to be a Panthers fan. With so much turnover in front offices and coaches getting fired left and right, quarterbacks get benched every week, I feel that we are lucky to have the rare combination of both coaching and quarterback stability.

Give that up and who knows what could happen.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?