The Carolina Panthers wanted the second half of the season to feel nothing like the first, and that's the only place where you could judge Sunday's effort a success.
The Panthers' brain-numbing, 30-3 home loss to Tennessee felt nothing like the first eight games, in which Carolina (2-7) stayed in every game until deep in the fourth quarter before losing most of them.
This was a rout. A rerun. A ridiculous performance by a Panthers team that looked far worse than it ever has under first-year coach Ron Rivera.
By the time the Panthers' offense was drawing three penalties in the final minute, I would guess that 70,000 of the 73,000 seats in Bank of America Stadium were empty. The "sea of blue" that Rivera has mentioned several times wanting to see in the Panthers' home stadium was there all right, but only because most of those vacant seats are that color.
"Most of our losses this year have at least been where I at least felt we went down fighting," said Panthers offensive tackle Jordan Gross, who drew one of those penalties. "And we went down fighting in the end, but not the kind of fighting you want to do."
Panther quarterback Cam Newton - stymied for the first time as a pro - used the word "embarrassing" three times in his postgame press conference.
"We just got outplayed today, simple and plain," Newton said. "This can't happen. This is embarrassing. Losing like this at home, no sir."
I asked him whether he had ever quarterbacked a team that hadn't scored a touchdown.
"Never," Newton said. "Ever. Ever."
The angst so many Panthers fans felt in 2010 - when the team's coaching and quarterback situations were equally foggy - came back Sunday. Some Panthers fans were booing the home team by the time this game was 10 minutes old.
By then Carolina trailed 14-0, having given up a 79-yard punt return and a 43-yard reception for touchdowns. On the punt return, which came 64 seconds into the game, it's quite possible you could have scored, too, if you can run 100 yards in under 20 seconds. The Panthers' coverage was that bad.
Said Panthers wide receiver Brandon LaFell: "We came out here, got hit in the mouth and didn't do anything about it."
"Terrible," Newton said.
"Pathetic," tight end Greg Olsen said. He had an early fumble inside the Tennessee 10 that helped seal the Panthers' doom early.
It was all of that and more. On a cloudy day in the 50s where the sun never showed up, the Panthers never did, either.
What's inexplicable about this is that the Panthers just had a bye week. And Tennessee (5-4) isn't exactly the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s.
"Not to take anything away from the Titans," Gross said, "but I think we've played better teams than that."
The Titans kept a defender assigned to Newton at all times, blitzed a lot on first down and bamboozled Carolina's offense. On seven of their 13 offensive series, the Panthers couldn't make a single first down. Newton, who was averaging five passes per game of more than 20 yards, didn't have any completions of that distance Sunday.
It all felt a lot like the John Fox-Jimmy Clausen era of 2010, when the Panthers often wore out punter Jason Baker's leg before the first half was over.
If you had told me Sunday before the game that Tennessee would have scored 30 points, I wouldn't have been shocked. The Panthers' defense is inconsistent and the special teams are among the worst in the league. So giving up 30 to anyone is possible - opponents had eclipsed that mark four times already.
But for the Panthers to only score a single field goal? That would have amazed me. Besides the Panther players getting outplayed, their coaches were totally outcoached. Tennessee's game plan made Steve Smith an afterthought. Newton was sacked five times. It seemed to be second-and-16 for Carolina the entire afternoon.
So what next? The Panthers play three straight games on the road. Those teams will try to spy on Newton just like Tennessee did.
Some of what the Panthers are right now is understandable. Their two best linebackers are out. Newton holds the ball too long, but that's natural. He's a rookie. When defensive reinforcements arrive, the 2012 season will be better.
But some of what we saw Sunday wasn't understandable. The Panthers were heavily penalized again, had more special-teams errors and played their worst offensive game of the season.
What were the Panthers supposed to be working on during the bye week anyway? Because it sure didn't work.
The Panthers are now 4-21 over their past 25 games. And if your only evidence of how they have played the past two seasons had come from watching Sunday, you would wonder how they could have ever won those four games.
