The good times did not last as long as the early Hornets, where things crashed hard after the 1996 season (where we thought we were set to be top in the NFC for awhile) and stayed down for awhile. So while there was that new sheen, it didn’t last. The Kerry Collins saga was an especially depressing dose of reality.
And due to a lot of loyalty to non-local teams (especially the Redskins/Commanders, Cowboys, and Steelers), the city didn’t quite go full-in on fandom with the Panthers like Charlotte did with the Hornets.
The good times did not last as long as the early Hornets, where things crashed hard after the 1996 season (where we thought we were set to be top in the NFC for awhile) and stayed down for awhile. So while there was that new sheen, it didn’t last. The Kerry Collins saga was an especially depressing dose of reality.
And due to a lot of loyalty to non-local teams (especially the Redskins/Commanders, Cowboys, and Steelers), the city didn’t quite go full-in on fandom with the Panthers like Charlotte did with the Hornets.