The Carolina Panthers have gotten a firsthand lesson in just how cruel the NFL schedule can be this season.

A few weeks ago, the team was 6-2 and looked poise to easily secure a playoff berth despite a crowded NFC postseason picture and an all-time scoring monster of a contender playing in the same division.

Three losses later, the Panthers are in serious trouble.

Speaking with the media today, quarterback Cam Newton admitted that the locker room is shocked by the surprise losing streak.

Cam on mood in the locker room: “Shocked.” pic.twitter.com/eSrm5GlAfw — Joe Person (@josephperson) November 28, 2018

The losses must be especially upsetting for Newton, who has played relatively well in most of all three games.

During this stretch, Newton has completed 73 of 96 passes, good for 76 percent. He’s averaged 268.6 yards per game and over nine yards per completion. Newton’s passer rating was over 100 in all three losses, as well.

Those numbers don’t tell the whole story, of course.

Newton threw a ghastly pick-six against Pittsburgh that set the tone for the blowout. Aside from that and a force to tight end Chris Manhertz in the end zone, Newton has been almost blameless though.

Kicker Graham Gano is taking a lot of heat for his performance, but you can only fairly pin the loss in Detroit on him.

The real problems for the Panthers have been poor performances by practically everyone on Ron Rivera’s coaching staff and far too many inexcusable and inexplicable mistakes on defense.

Whatever else you can say about Carolina, Newton is doing his job.

For the season, Newton has a career best 103.7 passer rating, even ahead of his MVP campaign when it was 99.4. He’s also completing a career high 69.6 percent of his passes and averaging a healthy 7.52 yards per pass. He’s taking better care of the ball than ever, too. Cam’s interception rate is a career low 1.9 percent. As rocky as things look right now, the Panthers and their fans should take comfort that Newton has finally reached a consistent level of high play.

Also, the schedule is about to get a whole lot easier and help is on the way for the beleaguered secondary.