Greatness? Not In Carolina

Great football teams do not catch lightning in a bottle. Other teams need everything to click in order to succeed. Great teams always click. Fans of great teams expect no less than the best. Fans of other teams bicker over roster moves and coaching decisions, then boast when it all comes together.

For great teams, it's always together.

The Carolina Panthers have never been great. In their 15 seasons in the National Football League, they've had just four winning seasons. They are going to finish with a losing record this season. Fans will tell you that while the above statistics may be true, they've actually only had eight losing seasons.

Like a mother of an ugly baby who refuses to see the ugly, it's time fans in Carolina wake up and see the truth: greatness has never set foot in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Don't get it twisted, the Panthers have had four great seasons, but having a great season does not make you great. The Panthers haven't even had back-to-back winning seasons. They finished their 12-4, 1996 season by going 7-9 the following year; from 11-5 in '03 to 7-9, from 11-5 in '05 to 8-8, and from 12-4 in '08 to 8-8. Those four runs were lighting in a bottle...everything just clicked.

So what makes a team great?

Years of dominance for starters. Teams like the New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers come to mind. Even a team like the Dallas Cowboys, famous for their playoff chokes, has had a high winning percentage. But there is more to a great team than just the record, and the quarterback is essential.

Take a look at every Super Bowl winning quarterback since the Panthers have been in the NFL: Troy Aikman, Brett Favre, John Elway, Kurt Warner, Trent Dilfer, Tom Brady, Brad Johnson, Ben Roethlisberger, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning and Drew Brees.

With the exception of two, they are all top tier QBs. This isn't to say you have to be the best to go all the way, Dilfer and Johnson prove that, but if you look at the teams that have won the Super Bowl, Tampa Bay (Johnson) and Baltimore (Dilfer) can only be found once. Heck, the Panthers have been to a Super Bowl. Their QB? Jake Delhomme.

It's also important to have an excellent staff. In 15 seasons, the Panthers have had three coaches. That's an average of one every five years, and their current coach, John Fox, won't be there in 2011.

The general manager is in charge of salary, helps draft, and signs free agents. Current Panthers GM, Marty Hurney, has done an above average job in that area. Many terrific players have been drafted and signed to play in Charlotte. Hurney has locked up stars for long stretches, but he's also made contract blunders.

In comparison to Bill Polian in Indianapolis, the Rooney family in Pittsburgh and the Krafts and their Patriots, Hurney is nothing more than a side salad. Panthers owner, Jerry Richardson, has always seemed to avoid any heat when the team hasn't produced. That's all changed in 2010, and many fans blame the team's play on him.

If you're not getting better, you're either getting worse or staying the same. The Panthers decided to go young this past off-season and not improve the team. They finished 8-8 last season, so a decline should not come as a surprise. They were mediocre then, and they should've been mediocre this season.

The Panthers may always be mediocre unless they make some serious changes. Guys like Kerry Collins, Steve Beuerlein, Chris Weinke, Rodney Peete, Delhomme, David Carr, Vinny Testaverde, Matt Moore and now Jimmy Clausen just haven't been and don't seem to be what's needed to make the team great.

Double Trouble, the fine running back duo of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart— are trying to showcase their amazing skills in a passing league. Hurney and Richardson want to build through the draft and let the youth take over and soar.

That's great in theory, but the NFL is about winning now, not in a few years. The Panthers just can't seem to get it right.

The good news is that as QBs come and go, so may a team's success. The Cowboys, Steelers, Colts and Patriots haven't always been great. They've had their ups and downs.

So one way to look at it is that the Panthers simply started down. Who knows, the next 15 years may be filled with dominance if they play their cards right. That's they key. So far, it's been 14 years of not making it to the final poker table, and one year of going all in and losing.

To all the homers out there who like to tell fellow Panther fans that the team "will be fine", it won't be. Things need to change in Charlotte.

If you're a fan, take a good long look at the team's history. Look past the four single successful seasons, look past the handful of superstars who've graced the field at Bank of America Stadium, look past the dominant defensive lines and look past the fact that the Carolinas finally have professional football.

Take a good long look at the team and you'll begin to realize they could be better. Much better. So hope a dynasty is on the horizon...because it's finally time for the Carolina Panthers to achieve greatness.