The Carolina Panthers are in a battle in the NFC South. The division title is up for grabs with all four teams in contention with Cam Newton and company trying to keep up with Drew Brees' New Orleans Saints.

Unfortunately for the Panthers, the team took a step back the last two weeks with consecutive losses to the Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Bears. Newton didn't hold back while sharing his thoughts about the loss to the Bears as he believes it was a lost opportunity, via Max Henson of Panthers.com.

“There’s no excuse not to come in and find a way to win this football game,” Newton said. “We squandered that opportunity.”

“We have to get the job done, and offensively we didn’t. We didn’t get an opportunity to get in the red zone and that’s unacceptable. We will and have to be better.”

The Panthers only managed to score three points in the loss to the Bears. The offense simply couldn't get going while the defense gave up 17 points to Mitchell Trubisky and company. Newton had arguably one of his worst games of the season throwing for 211 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions.

The former NFL MVP had 21 completions in 34 attempts as the offense fell flat. Carolina is currently giving up more points than they're scoring as they put up 18.7 points (22nd in the NFL) to 19.9 points (11th) against.

Although the offense has sputtered as of late, head coach Ron Rivera and his squad are very much in the playoff hunt with a 4-3 record. The Saints are atop the division standing at 4-2 while the Atlanta Falcons (3-3) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-4) aren't too far behind.