The Carolina Panthers have lost three of their first four games, including last weekend's 26-16 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Next up for the Charlotte team—hosting the San Francisco 49ers at Bank of America Stadium.
The Panthers' record may persuade fans to look past them, but you better believe Kyle Shanahan and his squad isn't underestimating their Week 5 opponent. Studying the film, the 49ers head coach sees a better opponent than their 1-3 record might let on.
"I think they've got one of the better defenses in this league," Shanahan said this week on KNBR. "I think they've been in every single game and had a chance to win every single game. They could just as easily be 4-0 as 1-3. They lost by a couple of touchdowns last week. It was 10-10 in the fourth quarter. They had every opportunity to win that game. They ended up having all those turnovers and tipped passes and had it go a little crazy at the end."
The coach proceeded to break down the Panthers' previous three games.
"You look at Week 1, they had it won, and then Cleveland kicked a 58-yard field goal with no time on the clock to beat them by two points ... So they had that one too," Shanahan said. "You go to Week 2, they lost to the Giants 19-16, barely, but the Giants had zero turnovers, and the Panthers had two. So they no doubt would have won that game if they could have got a turnover or [had] one less.
"You go to the New Orleans game (their lone win), they completely dominated New Orleans, had them shut out until four minutes were left in the game, rushed for over 150 yards on them, and got after them."
While speaking to NBC Sports Bay Area this week, Shanahan went into more detail about the Panthers offense in case fans are unwary of the No. 17 ranked unit going against the 49ers' No. 2 ranked defense.
"They've struggled to get it going, but I've seen these players do some good things in this league before," Shanahan shared. "So you know that they're capable. Their quarterback, Baker [Mayfield], he's had some real good games, especially at Cleveland. And I thought a couple of weeks ago, he had his best game, and they just came up short.
"Last week was rough. I've been there with the Arizona defense, especially with [defensive end] J.J. [Watt] in there, and how hard it is with them getting their hands up. They had every chance to win that game, and just a couple of unfortunate tips is what cost them.
"But when you look at Baker, you look at [running back] Christian [McCaffrey], who—Christian is still the same guy. Just watching him on tape this week, he can slash as good as anyone. He makes plays. He makes off-schedule plays. If you're not disciplined in the holes you're in, in the gaps, he sees everything, and he'll make you pay very fast.
"And they've got skill on the outside, so they've got the ability to do it. We've got to be on our stuff, and usually, it's going to come down to turnovers because I feel they should have won last week, getting the turnovers that they did on their defense. They just ended up doing it on their offense, and it ended up looking like it wasn't a close game. But they were in that the whole time, and we've got to make sure we don't let that happen to us."