"So to recap, a new general manager (Dave Gettleman) was given a head coach he had no voice in hiring, and now that coach has to replace half a staff and install a new system anyway.
What could possibly go wrong?
The background on the shuffle makes it more frustrating for the Panthers.
When former GM Marty Hurney hired Rivera, he had a list of offensive coordinator candidates in mind along with a list of head coaches. It’s believed that Bengals coordinator Jay Gruden was atop Hurney’s list, but Rivera insisted on Chudzinski instead. Hurney, in a move that may have effectively doomed him, relented and let his new coach pick his own guy.
Chudzinski is widely known as a smart guy, and his Ohio roots will give him a passion for the Browns job they need. But more than one of his former co-workers in Charlotte thought he was coaching to land a head coaching job, rather than using the tools he was given. Hence drawing up all the creative read-option plays, which were cute for a moment, while ignoring the fact he had been given running backsDeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart.
The end result is Rivera’s still standing, but scrambling for an answer, and the Panthers look like even more of a disjointed mess this morning than they already did."
