The continued struggles for the Carolina Panthers are taking a toll on their fans, so much so that a dedicated fan podcast is going on a hiatus due to their poor play over the past several years.
Stephen Costner and Jerry Dempster, hosts of MeowMix: A Carolina Panthers Podcast, announced this week that the show would be going on an indefinite hiatus due to how “extremely difficult” the past three seasons have been as fans of the team.
While it might be easier to justify continuing the show if they were able to make a living off of doing it, the statement indicates it was more of a for-love-of-the-team venture with a “small but amazing community” of fellow Panthers fans.
They also said they regularly spent six to seven hours every Sunday watching the games and then talking about them afterward.
When you think about that amount of time dedicated to this project combined with how things have been for the Panthers since the 2023 season, it’s not hard to see why Costner and Dempster are feeling jaded right now.
The Panthers are 8-30 dating back to the start of 2023. That is the fewest wins in the NFL during that span, with the Tennessee Titans being the only other team with single-digit wins (9-29).
On top of how bad their record is, the Panthers’ roster moves don’t inspire a lot of confidence that they will improve. The biggest one being the trade in which they moved up to draft Bryce Young with the top pick in 2023, only to give up the No. 1 pick in 2024 after finishing 2-15 during Young’s rookie season.
Within that same 2023 draft, the Panthers also passed on C.J. Stroud to take Young and gave up D.J. Moore in the trade with Chicago. Outside of a brief stretch at the end of last season, Young has been one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the league.
Xavier Legette, who was the Panthers’ top pick in 2024, has eight receiving yards in two games this season.
There are some signs of hope in Carolina. Tetairoa McMillan looks like a great addition after being selected No. 8 overall in the 2025 draft. Jaycee Horn, as long as he stays healthy, is one of the better cornerbacks in the NFL.
It’s just the entire puzzle for the Panthers hasn’t fit together for many years at this point, even before the Dave Canales era began in 2023. They haven’t had a winning record since 2017 and have won more than five games twice in the past seven seasons.
