If you assumed that by now you had heard every possible take on why the Carolina Panthers lost Super Bowl 50 to the Denver Broncos , you were wrong.

Former NFL coach Jim Fassel recently told KDCO Mile High Sports 1340 AM he predicted the Panthers would lose when he saw QB Cam Newton wearing gold cleats in pre-game warmups.

“All of the numbers pointed to Carolina. And when I saw Cam Newton walk out in gold shoes — ‘MVP’ — I switched my mind, essentially, right then,” Fassel said. “I said, ‘That’s not what a starting quarterback, MVP, leading his team…’ And I said, ‘This guy’s already become soft,’ and that’s what he was.”

Newton did not wear the gold cleats in the actual game, in which he turned in a subpar outing (18-of-41, 265 yards, INT; 6 carries, 45 yards). Fassel, who coached the New York Giants from 1997-2003, did not offer further explanation for how the special cleats affected Newton’s performance or made him “soft.”