TAMPA, Fla. – If you owned emotional stock in the Carolina Panthers Sunday, you felt the same way that stock-market investors across America have felt for the past week.

The Panthers crashed hard in Florida, getting publicly humiliated, 27-3, by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was the first time in 2008 Carolina never led, never scored a touchdown and never gave their fans a bit of hope that things might work out OK.

“Pretty much pathetic,” quarterback Jake Delhomme termed the team's performance. That quote was one of the few times Delhomme was on the money Sunday. Delhomme threw three interceptions, and Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden noted his team could have had “three or four others.”

Problems abounded, making everyone aware that the Panthers (4-2) are more fragile than they looked in their 34-0 whipping of Kansas City only a week before. On this Sunday, the Panthers turned into Kansas City. They were so thoroughly outplayed that it's hard to believe that today Carolina remains in a three-way tie for first place in the NFC South, with Tampa Bay and Atlanta.

That's where they are, however. A 24-point loss counts the same as a one-point loss. It's natural – but misguided -- for fans to overreact to both wins and losses in the NFL.

At the moment, Carolina is a good (but not great) team that just had a very bad day. The Panthers better hope it was their worst one of the season. Because if they lose to New Orleans (3-3) in six days at Bank of America Stadium, Carolina could go from tied to first in the NFC South to tied for last.

The Panthers didn't have much of a chance after the first quarter. Jason Baker had a punt blocked for the third time this season after Carolina's first possession – that's a whole career's worth of blocks for some NFL punters. It wasn't Baker's fault this time, as yet another faulty play by Carolina's special teams meant the ball was practically taken off his foot. Tampa Bay took the block in for a TD and it was 7-0.

Then tight end Dante Rosario tipped a Delhomme throw and Tampa Bay intercepted – a common theme all afternoon. The Bucs took over at the Carolina 26 and quickly scored again.

“Before we broke a sweat, it was 14-0,” Carolina coach John Fox said.

After that, the rest of the game was mostly just playing out the string. There would be only one more TD all afternoon on a brutally hot day that felt like August in Spartanburg.

Steve Smith lost one Delhomme deep ball in the sun (eventually adjusting, but falling down on the 48-yard catch rather than scoring as it seemed like he would do). In the final minute, Smith dropped another that would have been a sure TD.

The Panthers had no zip. No oomph. On defense, they were bamboozled by Jeff Garcia and gave up their first 100-yard rushing game of the season, to senior citizen Warrick Dunn.

The Bucs had inspirational performances like that of Earnest Graham, the normal starting tailback who subbed in at fullback due to a slew of injuries and road-graded many of Dunn's holes.

The Panthers had uninspired performances like those of… well… everybody. I dare you to name one Panther player who had a really good game.

Should their fans forgive the Panthers for this loss? Of course. This was the Panthers' mulligan – they hope. Because of their 4-1 start, the Panthers remain in decent shape.

But if what we saw Sunday in Tampa is anywhere near the new normal for the Panthers, this season is about to turn very sour.

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