Matt Rhule’s firing after Carolina Panthers loss to 49ers sets social media ablaze

The Carolina Panthers were all over Twitter this weekend for all the wrong reasons.

At one point or another — just before Carolina’s gutting loss to the San Francisco 49ers and just after the NFL team’s decision to fire third-year head coach Matt Rhule on Monday — many Panther fixtures were trending on Twitter, thanks to a cacophony of disgruntled fans.

Among those fixtures who were trending: Rhule, team owner David Tepper and DJ Moore.

“What David Tepper and Matt Rhule have done to the Carolina Panthers and the city of Charlotte,” a fan account with the handle @PantherTalk_ wrote at one point this weekend. “Unreal.”

Here’s a brief timeline of how this weekend went down.

Carolina Panthers loss to San Francisco 49ers

What happened on the field during Sunday afternoon’s game against the 49ers was discouraging. An injured Baker Mayfield threw a pick-six in the second quarter, and a comatose offense never woke up before exiting with a 37-15 loss and a 1-4 record in 2022.

But the social media fury began before kickoff, when a sea of 49er red enveloped the upper and lower bowls of Bank of America Stadium. It was a “home game” for Carolina in name only — and fans weren’t happy.

The Matthews Town Council Mayor Pro Tem even weighed in on Sunday, saying, “I don’t think I have the authority to, but I want to ban Matt Rhule, David Tepper, and Baker Mayfield from Matthews.”

Kevin Clark, an NFL writer for The Ringer, seemed to put it most succinctly for fans and NFL followers: “Matt Rhule is, I assure you, a good college coach who’ll rebuild a program sometime soon. There’s no reason for this to continue in Carolina. Not a pro coach, not special, not what Tepper thought he was. Happens. No shame. Off to Lincoln or Tempe and happiness. I’ve seen enough.”

Fans reacting to Matt Rhule’s firing

The team announced only a few hours later that Rhule was relieved of his coaching duties. That led to another wave of discussion among fans and writers alike.

Robert Griffin III, formerly an NFL quarterback who now covers football for ESPN, had a take, too.

There was even a Reddit stream that was starting to pick up steam titled: “MATT RHULE IS FIRED PARTY.”

DJ Moore, Christian McCaffrey even come up in the Panthers pile-up

The most confounding part of the Panthers’ offensive struggle is that the team has plenty of weapons. Some of those weapons — Christian McCaffrey and DJ Moore included — got roped into the social media blaze as well.

This story was originally published October 10, 2022 at 1:10 PM.

Alex Zietlow

The Charlotte Observer

Alex Zietlow writes about the Carolina Panthers and the ways in which sports intersect with life for The Charlotte Observer, where he has been a reporter since August 2022. Zietlow’s work has been honored by the Pro Football Writers Association, the N.C. and S.C. Press Associations, as well as the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) group. He’s earned six APSE Top 10 distinctions for his coverage on a variety of topics, from billion-dollar stadium renovations to the small moments of triumph that helped a Panthers kicker defy the steepest odds in sports. Zietlow previously wrote for The Herald in Rock Hill (S.C.) from 2019-22. Support my work with a digital subscription