CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Carolina Panthers entered the season with a seemingly solid offensive line, a rookie quarterback who had won a Heisman, a talented defensive unit and a coach with Super Bowl experience.
Hope was high for a team that was still in the playoff hunt late in the previous season.
This sounds like the 2023 Panthers, who enter Sunday's home game against the Atlanta Falcons (1 p.m. ET, Fox) with an NFL-worst 1-12 record.
But the same can be said of the 2001 Panthers, who went through a similar experience during a 1-15 season under coach George Seifert, when they became the laughingstock of the NFL.
"Until Detroit went 0-16 [in 2008] -- that was the year I quit feeling like the laughingstock,'' said former Carolina safety Mike Minter, now the coach at Campbell University. "That stays with you. You're a part of history, but on the wrong end of it."
Some of the players from 2001 follow the current team's struggles and can relate to how mentally draining it can be. They believe this year's team has it tougher because of social media, which barely existed in 2001.
"You can't get away from that,'' Minter said. "Whatever people were feeling in 2001, we didn't get to hear it all. Even from our own teammates, you didn't get to hear everybody's thoughts. We could get away from it if we wanted to.''
It was still tough. For tight end Wesley Walls, it got to the point that he didn't tell a restaurant his name when making a reservation, unlike when things were going well, knowing he would move to the front of the line.
"It's real life,'' Walls said. "You're trying to provide for your family, and when things like this happen and you lose the support of your fan base ... you feel like it's hopeless.''
Offensive guard Kevin Donnelly, who came to Carolina in 2001 after three straight playoff seasons with the Miami Dolphins, agreed.
"The unfortunate thing about being an offensive lineman is I got recognized because I was big,'' Donnelly recalled. "People were like, 'Did you used top play football?' Before that season, I was, 'Yeah, I played at North Carolina and ... !' That season I left it right there.
"You know a lot of them want to be nice to you. But you know as soon as they go back to their table, they're just talking trash about you.''
The 2001 season didn't start out as a disaster. Carolina upset the Minnesota Vikings 24-13 on the road in the opener with rookie quarterback Chris Weinke, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner out of Florida State, throwing and rushing for a touchdown in what was basically his hometown.
"I don't know if it gets any better than this,'' the St. Paul native said after the game.
It didn't. Fifteen consecutive losses later, the Panthers were tied for what were the most losses in a season in NFL history at the time. The 2008 Lions and 2017 Cleveland Browns now own that distinction at 0-16. This season's Panthers could be headed for 1-16.
"I don't see how this team can win another game,'' one member of the 2001 Panthers said.
Defensive end Mike Rucker, who won a national title (1995) and a share of another (1997) at Nebraska before coming to Carolina as a second-round pick in 1999, said the emotional struggles are the worst, "especially for individuals ... who were not used to losing.
"How do you handle the emotions and other people around you was something I had to learn," Rucker said.
Current Carolina rookie quarterback Bryce Young never even got to experience Weinke's brief success. Atlanta turned two interceptions into 10 points in his NFL debut -- a 24-10 loss.
He lost his first five starts and has a 1-11 record heading into Sunday, having missed one game with an ankle injury. That's seven more losses than he had in 27 starts at Alabama.
Some who played on the 2001 team believe the tough times will make Young and others stronger just as it did for the 26 of them who later played on the 2003 team that reached the Super Bowl.
"I remember coach Fox saying the first thing he did was watch our last four games [of 2001],'' Walls said of John Fox, who replaced Seifert after the 2001 season. "He saw ... players who kept fighting enough that we could build on.''
Rucker still lists the 2001 season among the highlights of his career because of what he learned about himself and others.
"If individuals take this and reshape the narrative, that will make you a better person down the road,'' Rucker said. "These are life lessons.''
It's just hard to see that in the moment. For Walls, the low point came in a Week 5 loss to the New Orleans Saints. The Panthers had a four-point lead when Minter was called for pass interference, giving the visitors a first down at the 1-yard line with six seconds remaining.
One play later, Saints running back Ricky Williams scored the game-winning touchdown as the clock struck zero.
"You feel like at home even the time clock guy is against you,'' Walls recalled. "He could have let that thing click to zero [on the play before]. So we just felt like we were jinxed.
"And that's the kind of feeling you get in a season like this. It's not real, but it is in your mind because you're losing.''
The worst moment arguably was the season finale when only about 16,000 fans came to the 74,000-seat stadium.
"I never thought anything could be so bad,'' Minter said.
In two of the past three home games this season (Vikings, Dallas Cowboys), visiting fans took over Bank of America Stadium. The Panthers actually practiced with a silent count when preparing to play the Cowboys.
But as bad as it gets, members of the 2001 team are pulling for the current players.
"It takes a lot of pressure to make a diamond,'' Walls said. "And they are under as much pressure as you can [be] when you are losing like this. I hope they keep fighting and turn that thing around.''