Matt Rhule's terrible Panthers tenure snubbed from list of NFL's worst coaching hires this century

The last time the Carolina Panthers made the NFL playoffs was the 2017 season. Since then they have made a ton of mistakes that have contributed to that ongoing postseason drought. None were bigger than the decision to hire Matt Rhule as their new head coach in 2020, though.

Even though Rhule had no previous experience as a head coach at this level, Carolina gave Rhule a remarkable seven-year deal that averaged almost as much as per year as Andy Reid's deal at the time with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Rhule did have success turning around college programs, first at Temple and then at Baylor. However, he was never really able to get the Panthers off the ground. In his first season Carolina went 5-11, followed by another five-win season in 2021. The Panthers started out the 2022 campaign with a 1-4 record when team owner David Tepper (to his credit) decided to pull the plug and fire Rhule.

That gave Rhule a putrid all-time record of just 11-27 (.289), making him one of the worst coaching hires in recent NFL history. However, a new list of the worst hires since the year 2000 from Cody Benjamin at CBS Sports does not include Rhule.

At the top (or the bottom) of the list is the very brief experiment of the Jacksonville Jaguars hiring Urban Meyer, who apparently didn't even know who Aaron Donald was coming into the league.

Bobby Petrino's infamously short run with the Atlanta Falcons was next, followed by Cam Cameron with the Miami Dolphins, then Josh McDaniels and Nathaniel Hackett with the Denver Broncos.

They're all terrible in their own unique ways, but several coaches on CBS' list had a better record than Rhule did with the Panthers, and he probably should be included.