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Panthers fans didn’t show up to their own home game

Alicia de Artola
Alicia de Artola

Fansided

Carolina Panthers quarterback Baker Mayfield. (Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports)

The Panthers had their stadium taken over by 49ers fans as a sea of red made it seem more like San Francisco than Carolina.

The Carolina Panthers haven’t given their fans good enough reasons to come out on Sundays to watch football at Bank of America Stadium.

That much was clear this week as the Panthers hosted the 49ers.

A combination of Panthers fans not turning up and 49ers fans showing out had the game looking like it was in San Francisco, not Charlotte.

Panthers attendance was embarrassing against the 49ers

Can you blame the fans in Carolina for being less than enthusiastic about their team right now? Who really wants to spend money to watch bad football?

The acquisition of Baker Mayfield hasn’t solved any of the problems on offense. He’s been no better than their other reclamation project, Sam Darnold.

Despite having an offense-minded head coach in Matt Rhule, the Panthers are at their worst on that side of the ball. The defense and special teams have tried to keep things afloat. It hasn’t been enough.

The team came into Sunday with a 1-3 record and their hopes of adding a second win to their tally were low, even against a 2-2 49ers team. San Francisco proved that by pulling ahead 17-3 by halftime.

Rhule is in his third season as head coach. He won five games in each of his first two seasons. If he was going to pan out, this was the year he needed to show it. There haven’t been positive signs of that in the slightest.

Instead, Panthers fans are watching a team go down in flames. Maybe the embarrassing attendance will be enough to convince ownership to make some changes and get serious about winning.

Alicia de Artola

Alicia de Artola

Alicia de Artola is an editor at FanSided.com, covering college football and basketball, NFL, MLB, NBA, English Premier League, Formula 1 and much more. She has more than a decade of experience in sports, and co-hosts Reign of Troy Radio, the popular USC football podcast. She’s covered games and practices, taken photos on the sidelines and interviewed Trojans legends as a USC beat writer from 2016 to 2019. Since 2020, she has taken a broader national focus, writing about every sport under the sun, including major events from the College Football Playoff and Super Bowl to the World Series and NBA Finals. A member of the Football Writers Association of America and Association for Women in Sports Media, de Artola joined FanSided in 2012 and has since been inducted into the FanSided Hall of Fame. She lives with her husband and border collie in Los Angeles.