While the Minnesota Vikings enjoyed an exciting victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Adam Thielen's second season away from the purple and gold continued to get worse and worse as he and the Carolina Panthers suffered another embarrassing loss.
After losing by 37 points to the New Orleans Saints in Week 1, Thielen and the Panthers left their home stadium on Sunday with a brutal 26-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. At one point during Carolina's loss to the Chargers, the former Vikings receiver was shown on the TV broadcast yelling on the sidelines after a play.
Adam Thielen heads the sidelines with visible frustration pic.twitter.com/S9WMTV8yG9
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) September 15, 2024
2024 season off to disastrous start for Carolina Panthers and former Minnesota Vikings WR Adam Thielen
Following a disappointing 2-15 finish in 2023, Thielen and the Panthers were hoping things would get back on track after the team hired former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales last January to be their new head coach.
So far, Carolina is off to one of the worst starts in franchise history under Canales. Despite their new head coach's offensive background, the Panthers have averaged just 6.5 points in their two games this season.
As for Thielen, he entered the 2024 campaign after putting together the third season of his career with at least 1,000 receiving yards in 2023. In two games this year, the former Minnesota wide receiver has only been targeted seven times, and he's accumulated a total of just five catches for 59 yards.
As it's shown in the clip above, Thielen is clearly frustrated about how the 2024 season has begun for the Panthers, and rightfully so. Carolina hasn't shown anything at all in its first two games to make people think they can even get one win this year.
Now, the real question will be about how much longer Thielen is going to deal with the struggles of the Panthers before he asks the team to trade him somewhere else.
If Carolina continues to perform terribly during the next few weeks, it wouldn't be surprising if the former Vikings wide receiver asks the team to send him to another organization before this season's trade deadline.
Thielen is 34 and he knows he doesn't have much time left to keep playing in the NFL. So, if his career is coming to an end soon, he's probably going to want to attempt to help a team win a championship this year instead of just continuing to waste away at the bottom of the league with the Panthers.