2001 Carolina Panthers season

The 2001 Carolina Panthers season was the franchise's 7th season in the National Football League (NFL) and the 3rd and final under head coach George Seifert. They tried to improve upon their 7–9 record in 2000, and make it to the playoffs for the second time in franchise history; however, the Panthers instead suffered one of the worst seasons in NFL history, en route to going 1–15.

The Panthers defeated the Minnesota Vikings in their opening game of the season, and then became the first team in the Super Bowl era to lose fifteen consecutive games afterwards. The Panthers were the only team since the expansion to 16 games in 1978 to have won their opener and lose the remainder of the season until the 2020 Jacksonville Jaguars became the second team to accomplish this feat.^[1]

The Panthers consequently beat the record for most consecutive losses during a single NFL season that had been shared by the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1980 New Orleans Saints, 1981 Baltimore Colts and 1990 New England Patriots. This record has since been broken by two winless teams: the 2008 Detroit Lions and 2017 Cleveland Browns. The 2001 Panthers also became the seventh team to finish 1–15.

By the end of the season, the Panthers had become so incapacitated that only about 16,000 fans showed up to see them play in their finale against the New England Patriots, who eventually went on to win Super Bowl XXXVI. Coincidentally, the Panthers would face the Patriots two seasons later in Super Bowl XXXVIII. Following their terrible season, head coach George Seifert was fired and replaced by New York Giants defensive coordinator John Fox.

Despite having the worst record in the league, the Panthers did not have the number-one overall draft pick in the 2002 NFL draft due to the debut season of the expansion Houston Texans. This feat would be repeated in 2023, when the Panthers traded their number-one overall draft pick to the Chicago Bears.

In 2015, the Panthers went 15–1, becoming the first team in NFL history to have both 15 losses and 15 wins in a season; the 2023 team also went on to have a 15 loss season, finishing 2–15. To date, this remains the Panthers' worst season in franchise history.