Panthers' Path to Contending Again Clear If They Can Stop Beating Themselves Up

Despite suffering through a frustrating, disappointing and often puzzling 2016 season, the Panthers can turn things around quickly and return to Super Bowl contention next year.

They don't have to trade Cam Newton, re-educate him into becoming a traditional pocket passer or follow him through his life and fashion choices like middle school hall monitors.

They don't have to completely rebuild the roster, take out a second mortgage in free agency or draft 25 new players (with all the extra picks they get from trading Cam).

They don't need to fire Ron Rivera, gut the coaching staff or perform some kind of culture transfusion in the locker room.

The Panthers just need to get out of their headspace and go back to playing football.

Last night's 26-15 victory over Washington was a prime example of what the Panthers must do. It was not a flawless game. There were dropped passes, missed throws, missed field goals, dumb penalties. But the Panthers moved the ball when they had to and got big plays from their defense, on the road, against a good opponent. Best of all, they didn't let a little misfortune—an obvious roughness foul on Newton that was reinterpreted by referees as a taunting violation against Newton—turn them into the Mighty Moodswings. Not for long, anyway.

But for most of the 2016 calendar year, from the moment Newton stormed out of his Super Bowl presser in a grump, the whole Panthers organization has been too busy battling itself to effectively cope with its opponents. While they had some real problems with injuries and roster inadequacies, the Panthers have performed the impressive feat of psyching themselves out for 11 months.

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General manager Dave Gettleman rigidly stuck to his long-term budgetary philosophy, even though a short-term Super Bowl victory was within the team's grasp. The on-and-off franchise tagging of Josh Norman, with no real Plan B for the Panthers' suddenly gutted secondary, showed that Gettleman was uncomfortable playing the hare after having so much success as the tortoise. He and the coaches fumbled the offseason evaluation process, bringing back fading regulars (like Mike Tolbert and Ed Dickson, who played well on Monday night but have been liabilities for much of the year) at positions where upgrades should have been cheap and easy to find.

The Panthers were so wary of the Super Bowl hangover from the start of training camp that they essentially wished one upon themselves. In retrospect, tight end Greg Olsen sounded like Nostradamus when he spoke to Bill Voth of Black and Blue Review in July: "This is too hard to come out and just half-assed and find ourselves 1-4 asking, 'What's going on?' We're not going to allow that to be the problem," he said.

It became precisely the problem once the Panthers found themselves 1-4.

Rivera should have tried to modulate his team's mood, but the former Riverboat Ron sounded more subdued and acted more risk averse than he did in prior years. Until he suddenly decided to risk both a loss and a national scandal by benching Newton against the Seahawks, that is.

So the general manager, coaches and veterans were doing a little too much navel gazing from the start. Which brings us to Newton.

Everyone brings a little baggage to any Newton conversation, so objectivity can be a little tricky. Even mundane criticism about footwork or decision making can sound a little shrill, like a plea for attention (good and bad) from the Internet. Defend Newton too hard, on the other hand, and you can sound naïve and oblivious. The guy who storms off in a huff after losses and gets benched by a purported "player's coach" for junior-varsity stuff has a hard time shaking slumps? How DARE you suggest those two things might be related?

Newton's slumps are slumpier than those suffered by his peers. Quarterbacks with MVP pedigrees don't go four straight weeks completing less than 50 percent of their passes, as Newton has done over the last month. Yes, the offensive line is cheesecloth, the receiving corps pedestrian and Mike Shula's offense too reliant on receivers winning one-on-one matchups. But Newton is the guy who not only invited Superman comparisons, but nearly insisted on them.

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Slumping Newton doesn't step into his deep throws and puts too much mustard on his short ones. When he's a little sloppy and erratic, his receivers appear to follow his lead. Suddenly, Kelvin Benjamin and Devin Funchess aren't as eager to fight for passes that might not arrive on target.

Maybe there's no direct correlation, but Newton's mood swings sure seem to rub off on the Panthers, who have a habit of burying themselves in avalanches. The Seahawks loss was a prime example: Newton got benched, Derek Anderson threw an interception on the first play of the game and the whole team played with a case of the yips for the rest of the evening. The Vikings loss was another avalanche game. Newton took a safety with a 10-0 lead, and darkness fell upon the land as the Vikings scored the next 20 points. When the Panthers make one mistake, three or four others are sure to follow, which only adds to the pressure to be perfect.

If this all sounds to you like momentum-based hocus-pocus when we should be talking about offensive line stability and secondary depth, keep in mind that it does not matter if you believe in momentum. If the Panthers believe in momentum, they'll be swayed by its invisible forces the way your sister-in-law's love life hinges upon her horoscope. The team that crumbles after its first big mistakes sure plays like it believes it is momentum's chew toy.

That's why it was a positive sign when the Panthers didn't let the Newton taunting penalty and a subsequent scoring drive snowball; they generated a turnover to start the second half and regained control of the game.

It has also been encouraging to hear a humbled Newton minimize the drama of TieGate, declare this season "humbling" and "challenging" and talk blandly about the steps he needs to take to get better. Indeed, football cliches become common for a reason, and great quarterbacks are more defined by their habits than their heroics. Newton doesn't need to stop smiling, dancing, dressing like Dapper Dan or playing Santa. He just needs to get back to work. And when things aren't going his way, he must learn to embrace the boring.

Meanwhile, Gettleman's long-range plan is starting to make sense now that we are entering a longer range. The all-rookie comedy troupe cornerback corps that started the year has grown up on the job. James Bradberry and Daryl Worley are keepers for a fraction of Norman's price tag. Cash and cap-space that would have been earmarked for Norman can go to Kawann Short or others. With all of that, the Panthers defensive nucleus can become great again in a hurry.

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And that means the Panthers can address their offense after the season, starting at tackle. Their receiving corps needs reinforcements, too. Benjamin and Funchess still have the potential to anchor the group, so the Panthers just need complementary weapons. The Panthers also need a change-up back for Jonathan Stewart, who actually changes things up, but those come in value packs in the middle rounds of the draft, as do extra tight ends and fullbacks who aren't three years past their primes.

The Panthers might even be able to spend a little money this offseason to fill needs. Gettleman—who is such a judicious, infrastructure-minded spender that he probably thinks the perfect family holiday gift is eight inches of extra attic insulation—must be willing to do so after sacrificing a whole season to a strict budgetary philosophy.

Imagine Cowboys third down back Lance Dunbar sprinting into flats for short Newton passes at budget prices. Imagine Alabama rookie Cam Robinson anchoring right tackle until he's ready to replace a healthy Michael Oher. Imagine a shifty slot receiver or a second tight end who matters. Newton's efficiency rates will perk right back up. So will his confidence.

Given a deeper roster and a less mercurial team personality, Riverboat Ron might return, too. Rivera skipped out of the Super Bowl hangovers at his previous stops. He was long gone from Philadelphia before the Eagles were torn apart by personality politics in 2005. And he left Chicago before Lovie Smith ignored the warning signs and tried to punch the repeat button on a non-repeatable Bears Super Bowl run. Maybe now he sees that the challenge lies not in maintaining success, but daring to accept even more changes and risks.

Last year's Super Bowl run was one long euphoric high. A crash was inevitable. But it doesn't have to be catastrophic. The Panthers possess Newton (an MVP-caliber quarterback), Luke Kuechly, Olsen, Short, Thomas Davis and plenty of other quality players and prospects. They also have a general manager with a gift for mining the middle rounds while minding the cap and a coach who was taking fourth-down risks before everyone started doing it.

Everybody just has to go out and do their jobs without second-guessing themselves and panicking at the first sign of trouble. Doubt and the weight of expectations may be the biggest causes of Super Bowl hangovers. The good news is that hangovers fade and happiness returns, as long as you don't make the same mistakes that caused the hangover in the first place.

Mike Tanier covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @MikeTanier.