Cam Newton

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton scrambles against the San Diego Chargers during an NFL game at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. on Dec. 11, 2016.

(AP Photo)

After three straight seasons as the NFC South champion and a trip to the Super Bowl last year, the Carolina Panthers will complete their 2016 NFL campaign against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon, headed toward a finish in the division cellar and, in the words of Carolina quarterback Cam Newton, a "sabbatical."

"Disappointed, but there is hope for the future," Newton said of the Panthers' season. "We had a long run. It's time for guys to take a sabbatical, so to speak, and just get away from it."

Carolina's drop from a 15-1 record in 2015 to the 6-10 or 7-9 mark the Panthers will have to show for 2016 could be pinned on many factors - a young secondary, injuries to key players such as linebacker Luke Kuechly and left offensive tackle Michael Oher, the play of the offensive line and the reduced production of Carolina's running game.

But as he was first in the spotlight when leading the Panthers to the Super Bowl and earning the NFL MVP Award last year, Newton is No. 1 in the what-went-wrong analysis, too.

"There's a lot of things that we're going to look at," Carolina coach Ron Rivera said. "We understand and we get that. There's some things that have to evolve around him because he's evolving as a quarterback as well. He's getting older, and he's going to be a different style player. We know that much."

FOR MORE OF AL.COM'S COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Critics of Newton's performance this season might ask if he's evolving or devolving based on his 2016 statistics.

Last season, Newton completed 296-of-495 passes for 3,837 yards with 35 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. This season, Newton has completed 252-of-478 passes for 3,272 yards with 18 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

Newton is heading toward the worst passer rating of the six seasons since Carolina selected him out of Auburn with the first pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. Only three of the 30 quarterbacks who have passed for at least 2,000 yards this season have a rating worse than Newton's 77.5. And all three - Case Keenum of the Los Angeles Rams, Brock Osweiler of the Houston Texans and Ryan Fitzpatrick of the New York Jets - have been benched (although Fitzpatrick is back on the field after two other QBs got hurt).

Newton has completed 52.7 percent of his passes, the worst rate of his career and the worst in the NFL among the 39 quarterbacks who have thrown at least 100 times this season. Last season, Newton completed 59.8 percent of his passes.

Newton broke NFL career records for most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback and most games with rushing and passing TDs this season. But Newton is going to finish the 2016 season with career lows in rushing attempts, rushing yards and yards per carry.

Newton played through December with a sore throwing shoulder, and he's listed as questionable on the Panthers' injury report for Sunday's game after being limited in practice on Wednesday and Thursday. He'll play in the finale, though.

"It's all right," Newton said about his shoulder. "There's no need to dwell on something. I'm not going to blame anything but my production. Production hasn't been solid, and that's me. I can't point to something and say, 'Well, this is the reason.'"

Carolina offensive coordinator Mike Shula agreed.

"If you could just say, 'Hey, all we have to do is just fix this, and then all of a sudden, we're going to be where we were last year,'" Shula said. "If it were that easy, man, it'd be that easy. But it's a combination of things. ...

"It's not a 1-on-1 game, or a quarterback and a wide receiver versus a DB. It's everything involved, and that includes scheme, which obviously brings us into it. You've got to look at all those things, and that's what we do each week."

And that's what the Carolina coaches will do in the offseason, Rivera said.

"We're not going to this offseason looking for who to blame; we're going to this offseason looking at how to fix it," Rivera said. "We're going to find answers and corrections."

Newton, who missed a game this season with a concussion, has been sacked 33 times this season, about in the middle when compared to the league's quarterbacks. But Rivera thinks the hits that Newton took early in the year -- in a controversial season-opener against the Denver Broncos and an eight-sack game two weeks later against the Minnesota Vikings -- affected the quarterback throughout the season, particularly with Oher going down for the season against Minnesota.

"I think a lot of it is reflective on how much pressure he had received earlier in the year," Rivera said. "I think sometimes it sets you back a little bit."

So how will the Panthers evolve with Newton in 2017?

Rivera said the Carolina offense "has to become quicker."

"If he gets rid of the ball quickly, makes it happen quickly, teams can't blitz him," Rivera said. "Then he can stand tall in the pocket and throw it downfield. ... When they drop seven, when they drop eight in coverage, then he can tuck it and run as a last resort. And when he does run, do it judiciously. That's an evolution that we all have to go through."

Newton's rushing attempts were down this season, and that trend seems likely to continue, based on Rivera's remark that Carolina wants to save Newton's running "for the right time."

"We want him to last 10 more years," Rivera said. "We have to find ways to change. We have to find ways to protect him and for him to protect himself. Part of his evolution is learning how to survive."

It seems certain, though, that the offense that Newton has operated for Carolina won't be the same that he'll drive in 2017.

"You have to evolve," Rivera said. "Things are going to change after six seasons."

The Panthers and Buccaneers kick off at noon CST Sunday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Newton said the Panthers' sabbatical won't start until after the game.

"We have one game left, and there are guys that I know for a fact that will give everything they have and more," Newton said. "We have an unbelievable opportunity to still accomplish a lot of things with us being such a young team. We just have to control the things we can."