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A Brief History of the Carolina Panthers

    The Carolina Panthers joined the NFL in 1993 and began playing as an expansion team in 1995 along with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Panthers are owned by a group headed by former Baltimore Colts player, Jerry Richardson. The Panthers hired Dom Capers, defensive coordinator from the Pittsburgh Steelers, to be their first head coach. They played their home games at the University of Clemson's Memorial Stadium in South Carolina while their new facility was being built in Charlotte, NC.

   Unlike expansion teams before them, the Carolina Panthers had the advantage of Free Agency as well as the expansion draft to populate their team. The Panthers set a few expansion team records during their first season. The Panthers not only won 7 games during their first season but they also won four games in a row and they beat the defending Super Bowl Champions, the San Francisco 49ers. All were expansion team records and firsts.

   The Carolina Panthers opened their new stadium in the fall of 1996. Ericsson Stadium, now known as Bank of America Stadium, is a state of the art, open air facility that holds over 73,000 screaming football fans and is located in Charlotte, NC. The Carolina Panthers second season was even better than their first. The Panthers won the NFC West division title with a 12-4 record. They beat the Dallas Cowboys in the divisional playoff round before eventually losing to the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship. Such success would have not been possible if not for the advent of Free Agency. Prior expansion teams had to build a team from scratch and typically took anywhere from 5 - 7 years before advancing this far in the playoffs.

   Early success may have spoiled the Carolina Panthers front office because after two disappointing seasons in 1997 and 1998, when the Panthers failed to qualify for the playoffs, Dom Capers was fired and replaced with ex-49er head coach George Seifert. Seifert, winner of two Super Bowls, led the Panthers to respectable 8-8 and 7-9 records in 1999 and 2000, however, a 1-15 record in 2001 eventually led to his firing. The Carolina Panthers then hired defensive specialist John Fox, the New York Giants defensive coordinator, to be their new head coach in 2002.

   John Fox led the Panthers to a 7-9 record in 2002 and a division title in 2003 with an 11-5 record. The Panthers beat the Dallas Cowboys, St. Louis Rams and Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Playoffs to advance to the 2003 Super Bowl versus the heavily favored AFC Champions, the New England Patriots. Super Bowl XXXVII was one of the most exciting in league history. The back and forth see-saw battle eventually wound up in favor of the New England Patriots with a final score of 32-29.

   The Carolina Panthers slipped to 7-9 and out of the playoffs in 2004, however, resurfaced with an 11-5 record in 2005. The Panthers beat the New York Giants in the Wild Card round of the 2005 playoffs and then they beat the Chicago Bears on the road in the divisional round. The Carolina Panthers lost the NFC Championship game in Seattle to the Seahawks 34-14; however, they had served notice that they were a team to be reckoned with in the upcoming seasons. In 2006, the Panthers were plagued with injuries and ended the season with an 8-8 record. In 2007, QB Jake Delhomme was injured again and lost for the season. Fox finally started rookie QB Matt Moore who won two of the last three games. The Panthers ended the season with a 7-9 record. So, get your Carolina Panthers tickets today and see if Jake Delhomme will be able to make a comeback and lead the Panthers to another Super Bowl!