Honestly, looking back at the Carolina Panthers 2023 record, it’s hard not to feel a little bad for the fans. It was a 2-15 nightmare. A total slog.
People expected a revolution. They got a car crash instead. When David Tepper traded the farm—including D.J. Moore and a haul of picks—to move up for Bryce Young, the vibe in Charlotte was electric. "This is it," everyone thought. Fast forward a few months, and the team was finishing the season with back-to-back shutouts.
Zero points. In two straight games. That's a special kind of struggle.
The cold, hard numbers of a 2-15 season
If you’re just looking for the raw data, the Carolina Panthers 2023 record officially stands at 2-15. They finished dead last in the NFL. Worse than the Cardinals, worse than the Patriots, and definitely worse than the Bears (who were laughing all the way to the bank with Carolina's 2024 first-overall pick).
The offense was basically non-existent. They averaged 13.9 points per game. That’s 31st in the league. You can’t win games when you’re barely scoring two touchdowns a week. Most Sundays felt like watching a team try to run through waist-deep mud.
- Final Record: 2-15
- Home Record: 2-6
- Away Record: 0-9
- Division Record: 1-5 (NFC South)
- Points For: 236
- Points Against: 416
It wasn't just that they lost; it was how they lost. They were 0-9 on the road. They didn't win a single game away from Bank of America Stadium. The only teams they actually managed to beat were the Houston Texans (ironically, the team with the guy many thought Carolina should have drafted, C.J. Stroud) and the Atlanta Falcons.
The Falcons game was a 9-7 "thriller" in a rain-soaked, empty stadium. It was arguably one of the ugliest games in modern NFL history. But hey, a win is a win, right?
Why the Bryce Young experiment stalled early
Everyone wants to blame the kid. It's easy. Bryce Young was the No. 1 pick, and when you look at his stats—3,011 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions—they don't exactly scream "superstar."
But context matters. A lot.
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Young was sacked 62 times. Read that again. Sixty-two times in 16 starts. He spent more time looking at the sky than he did looking downfield. The offensive line was a revolving door of injuries and "who is that?" depth chart fillers. Austin Corbett and Brady Christensen went down early, and the guards who replaced them struggled to block a stiff breeze.
Then there’s the "weapons" issue. Adam Thielen was great, sure. He had over 1,000 yards. But he’s a veteran possession receiver who shouldn't be your only threat. Jonathan Mingo, the rookie second-rounder, struggled to create separation. DJ Chark was hit-or-miss. Miles Sanders, the big free-agent signing at running back, lost his starting job to Chuba Hubbard midway through the season.
It was a mess. Pure and simple.
The coaching carousel that went nowhere
You can't talk about the carolina panthers 2023 record without talking about the Frank Reich era. Or, well, the Frank Reich "error."
Tepper hired Reich to be the "QB whisperer." The guy who would mold Bryce Young into the next great franchise leader. Instead, we got a weird, confusing power struggle over play-calling.
Reich started the season calling plays. Then he handed them off to Offensive Coordinator Thomas Brown. Then he took them back. Then he got fired.
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He lasted exactly 11 games.
"There's a heart-pounding disappointment in not hitting the marks that we needed to hit," Reich said after he was let go.
Chris Tabor took over as the interim coach, but the ship had already hit the iceberg. The team went 1-5 under Tabor. By the time the season mercifully ended, the staff was gutted. Quarterbacks coach Josh McCown and running backs coach Duce Staley were gone too. It felt like a franchise in total freefall.
The lone bright spot: The defense
Surprisingly, while the offense was busy being historically bad, the defense was actually... okay?
Derrick Brown had a monster year. He set an NFL record for tackles by a defensive lineman with 103. The guy was a one-man wrecking crew in the middle. Ejiro Evero, the defensive coordinator, somehow kept this unit in the top half of the league despite the offense constantly putting them in terrible positions.
They finished 4th in total yards allowed per game. That’s insane for a 2-win team. If the Panthers had even a league-average offense, that carolina panthers 2023 record probably looks more like 7-10 or 8-9.
But the defense couldn't score points. And they couldn't stop the run when it mattered most, especially in the red zone. They gave up 25 rushing touchdowns, which was near the bottom of the league. Still, Evero was the only coach who actually came out of the 2023 season with his reputation intact.
Was this the worst season in franchise history?
Panthers fans have seen some dark times. The 1-15 season in 2001 usually takes the crown for "most miserable." But 2023 is a very close second.
In 2001, the team won their first game and then lost 15 straight. In 2023, the hopelessness was different. It was the weight of the trade. Knowing that the 2024 first-round pick—which turned out to be No. 1 overall—was going to Chicago made every loss feel twice as heavy.
There was no "silver lining" draft pick waiting at the end of the tunnel.
It was a year of "what ifs." What if they had kept D.J. Moore? What if they had drafted Stroud? What if they had kept Steve Wilks, who led them to a 6-6 finish as an interim in 2022?
Instead, fans got a season where the owner, David Tepper, was fined $300,000 for throwing a drink at a Jaguars fan. That pretty much summed up the frustration level of the entire organization.
Actionable takeaways for the future
If you're still following this team, you're a gladiator. Here is what the carolina panthers 2023 record teaches us about where they need to go:
- Protect the Investment: You cannot evaluate a young QB when he's being hit 60+ times a year. The offensive line isn't a "need"—it's a requirement for survival.
- Play-calling Consistency: The flip-flopping between Reich and Brown destroyed any rhythm the offense might have had. A singular vision is better than a "collaborative" mess.
- Speed on the Outside: The 2023 receiving corps was too slow. In today's NFL, you need guys who can take the top off a defense to give your rookie room to breathe.
- Ownership Patience: Making a coaching change 11 games into a rookie QB's career is a recipe for instability.
The 2-15 record is a permanent stain on the franchise's history books, but it's also a blueprint of exactly what not to do when building a team around a young star.
To dig deeper into the current state of the roster or to see how the team is trying to move past the 2023 disaster, check out the latest team depth charts and cap space projections for the upcoming offseason. Examining the specific snap counts of the 2023 offensive line can also give you a better idea of where the protection truly broke down.