Is it time to question the Carolina Panthers' coaching staff after another disaster?

It is almost indefensible to get to third-and-one at the five-yard line and call a shotgun draw play. A draw is designed to catch the defense off guard. It's not going to surprise anyone and can only allow the D-line to get a push on an obvious run play. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work.

The coach then followed it up by going shotgun empty set with five wide receivers when he needed just a few feet. Bryce Young couldn't find anyone, and there seemed to be a miscommunication on where Xavier Legette was supposed to be, but the QB was unhappy.

He also seems to have trouble deciding what to do in those situations. On that fourth-and-one, the Panthers should've kicked it. Yes, they needed a touchdown, but a TD cut it to a two-score game. A field goal would've also cut it to two scores and given them a positive result to build on.

Canales also passed up on another field goal try and punted. It's fair to be cautious with a rookie kicker who barely won the camp battle, but the Panthers coach has done this more than just once on Sunday.

The head coach also seems to think he has a team ready to compete in the NFL and win, which is why he keeps starters out but for four series in the preseason. That only works when your team is pretty good, which the Panthers aren't. Two years in a row, they've looked utterly out of sorts in Week 1, and it has to be because they're not getting a lot of reps together.

It's really unclear what OC Brad Idzik brings to the table aside from being Canales' guy from Seattle and Tampa Bay, but it might be better if he had a seasoned former head coach OC to help in the areas that Canales struggles in.

As for Ejiro Evero on the other side of the ball, there have been far too many bad seasons under him to continue ignoring it. There is a major talent deficit on that side of the ball, but Evero seems to refuse to want to try other options to make it work.

The Panthers pressured Trevor Lawrence the least among all NFL QBs on Sunday, and Evero refused to even try rookie edge rushers Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen, who played a combined 26 snaps. Lathan Ransom sat for all but nine snaps in favor of Nick Scott, a glorified special teamer.

On that note, Canales seems to have no idea that he's the head coach and can instruct his assistants to do things. He revealed yesterday that he's asked Evero to play those young guys more, when in reality, he could just have him play those players.

However, just like with Young, it's not quite time to call for Canales' head. Growing pains were always likely given his rapid ascension from assistant to coordinator to head coach. We've seen things work really well for both Young and Canales together, so it's not time to fire him just yet. That would be what the old Panthers who kept cycling through coaches and QBs did, and that's not who the team needs to be anymore.