" Five games into the NFL season, the winless and drowning Carolina Panthers are in dire need of a bye week. But even that might not help. A bye month, maybe? Or perhaps they should just take the rest of the season off. They might as well. Carolina's 2010 season is essentially over anyway after yet another wretched offensive performance left them at 0-5 – a hole no NFL team has ever emerged from to make the playoffs. Jimmy Clausen and late-game replacement Matt Moore managed just 147 net yards offense, were sacked five times and turned the ball over three more times in a 23-6 loss to the Chicago Bears at Bank of America Stadium, representing a gigantic step backward from last week's promising effort against the New Orleans Saints. The Panthers were so bad offensively that even on day when the 38-year-old Todd Collins was intercepted four times, they still could only muster six points and eight first downs. "To say we're struggling would be putting in mildly," coach John Fox said of his offense. "We have some youthful guys in there. We just have to get better, and we have to get better fast." With Steve Smith out with a high ankle sprain, the Panthers became the first team since the Cleveland Browns in 1999 to start a rookie quarterback (Clausen) and two rookie receivers (Brandon LaFell and David Gettis). As you might imagine, that didn't work out so well against a stingy Chicago defense led by a surprisingly flamboyant Julius Peppers, who had four tackles, a quarterback pressure and an interception on Sunday. Clausen looked out of sync all day. He fumbled three times (the Panthers were lucky enough to recover all of them), threw for just 61 yards and was sacked five times. He was also intercepted by Peppers, who avoided a cut block to tip a pass at the line of scrimmage and make the catch. Moore didn't do any better, throwing two interceptions, although one bounced off the knee of Armanti Edwards, who made his first appearance this season. Together, Clausen and Moore had a combined quarterback rating of 12, which was actually two points higher than the Bears team quarterback rating. Carolina's running game was held in check as DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart combined for just 81 yards on 20 carries. Peppers, who bolted Carolina for big money in Chicago, had four tackles, a quarterback pressure and the seventh interception of his career. "My impact on games goes far beyond what a stat sheet would say," Peppers said. "The interception was big. I did other things in run support. We all played well. I need to look at the tape to see just how well we did play. Just from being on the field and seeing it while I was out there, I think we played well." Things started bad for Carolina and only got worse. After winning the coin toss, the Panthers elected to kickoff rather than receive. The move backfired as Danieal Manning returned the opening kickoff 62 yards. Four plays later, Matt Forte raced 18 yards on a misdirection to give the Bears their first rushing touchdown of the season." http://www.carolinagrowl.com/index....lows-in-23-6-loss-to-chicago&catid=1:articles
