Can Panthers buck league trend and return to the Super Bowl?
Kawann Short was in East Chicago, Ind., when he first heard the question.
He was home. He was there to get away. But all anyone wanted to do was relive the worst moment of his career. His Carolina Panthers had just watched a historic season slip away 24-10 in Super Bowl 50 against the Denver Broncos.
“Those first couple of weeks, man, that was something else,” Short, an all-pro defensive tackle, told USA TODAY Sports after a recent practice. “The first week, you’ve got to go around all your family. It’s the offseason, you know? So you’re back home, chilling with all your relatives. But all everybody wants to do is ask: ‘What happened?’
“I even had a guy in my neighborhood come up to me and say, ‘I betted on you. What happened?’ It’s a never-ending story.” The answer is complicated. The next question they will attempt to answer is just as difficult.
The Panthers know the numbers. They know history doesn’t favor them. In the last 23 seasons, only one team has lost the Super Bowl and returned for a championship appearance the following season, the 1993 Buffalo Bills.
The last team to win it all after coming up short?
You’d have to go back 43 years to Super Bowl VII, when the Miami Dolphins capped their perfect season with a 14-7 victory against the Washington Redskins, one year after getting drubbed 24-3 by the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl VI.
“You always hear about the Super Bowl hangover,” Panthers tight end Greg Olsen said this offseason. “That’s real. Teams that lose the Super Bowl struggle. History shows. You have to fight that. You have to fight human nature. You just have to continue to move forward and prepare like nothing ever happened.”
Easier said than done.
“Instead of ‘ What happened?’ ” Short added, “we want to know: ‘What now?’ ”
The team has gone back to basics. It has enlisted outside help. But above all else the Panthers insist they are starting over.
When the franchise returned for its first workout of the offseason in April, coach Ron Rivera drilled the most basic installations of the offense, defense and special teams. He preached fundamentals such as blocking, tackling, ball protection, situational awareness and penalties.
Rivera delivered the message to team leaders with the intention of having it filter down to every player. He reinforced it in team meetings.
“It’s over,” linebacker Luke Kuechly told USA TODAY Sports. “It’s the biggest game we have ever played. But no matter what we do, it’s in the past. That’s the way our team has approached it. We’re starting from the bottom. Each day is a brick in the foundation, and we want to build something big.”
Throughout the offseason, Rivera tapped into his Rolodex and sought advice from people such as Hall of Fame coach John Madden, Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and former big-league manager Tony La Russa.
He spoke to the architect of the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, retired Adm. William Harry McRaven.
He read numerous books on coaching and leadership.
He Googled and combed through search results, looking for news articles on how previous Super Bowl losers responded to their defeats.
“This isn’t something I want them to forget,” Rivera told USA TODAY Sports recently. “Now don’t get me wrong; I don’t want them moping around.
“But I definitely don’t want them to forget what that felt like: being so, so close but coming up short. We need to do what we can to fix that.”
Motivational tactics came into play, too.
All offseason, Rivera kept a countdown to the season-opening game Thursday against — you guessed it — the Broncos.
Day by day, the number whittled down.
But how does a coach get his players to use a crushing loss as motivation but not have them dwell on it?
“It’s a salty taste,” Short said. “You know you can’t get that game back. It’s going to be hard to return (to the Super Bowl), but at the same time we’ve got to use it as motivation with the training and practices on days when we don’t feel like being out here.
“We realize where we were last year. But it’s a whole new year, and we’ve got to focus on that first game.”
If all of this seems simple and straightforward, it’s because that’s the design.
Rivera said in all of the information he gathered — whether it was from mentors or colleagues, from books or from history — the takeaway was always the same: keep doing what got you there in the first place.
The roster is mostly the same. The notable difference: All-pro cornerback Josh Norman is gone. Carolina placed the franchise tag on him in March but rescinded it when talks for a long-term deal broke down.
Norman later signed Washington’s five-year, $75 million offer. Now the Panthers will start two rookie cornerbacks.
Wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin, who missed last season because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, is back and gives the Panthers a much-needed target, especially in the red zone.
But Carolina will go as far as the reigning league MVP, quarterback Cam Newton, takes it.
“These guys are hungry,” general manager Dave Gettleman said recently. “I don’t see any difference in their work ethic, in their approach or anything. Ron and I are very pleased. We’re very encouraged with where they are mentally.”
That was on display at a recent practice in August. The session had ended, and players were free to escape the steaming North Carolina heat. But nearly every position group remained.
“It was a blessing to even be at the Super Bowl. That whole experience was crazy. And that’s what this right here is for,” said Short, before he paused to point at the teammates who stayed for postpractice work.
“We’ve got to get back and make it right.”