CINCINNATI Cam Newton stood at his locker, his face somber. The Cincinnati Bengals had just whipped his Carolina Panthers 24-13 and the rookie quarterback had misfired on most of his passes.

Told he had completed only six of 19 passes for 75 yards in his three quarters of play, Newton shook his head. "That's embarrassing," he said.

His problems were far from the Panthers' only issues, but they are emblematic of a team that has regressed on the field the past two weeks. Its run defense was awful again Thursday night. Armanti Edwards fumbled a punt return that led to a Cincinnati touchdown. Chris Gamble got toasted for a 40-yard touchdown reception by the Bengals' A.J. Green.

But it is Newton who has become the face of this franchise, and so it is Newton whose struggles are the most apparent. While he has yet to commit a turnover and he ran the ball very effectively Thursday - four carries for 49 yards, including a 16-yard TD run in which he juked three defenders - he threw it very ineffectively.

The result?

The Bengals have long been nicknamed the "Bungles" around the NFL for their various failures. But the Panthers out-Bungled the Bungles in this one, falling behind 24-7 at halftime and earning an angry halftime talk from coach Ron Rivera.

"He really gave it to us," linebacker Dan Connor said.

The Panthers then played better but never mounted much of a comeback effort in a low-scoring second half, in which the only points came on two Olindo Mare field goals.

When it was mentioned to Newton that he needs to learn how to slide at the end of his runs, he said: "I need to learn how to do a lot of things."

After three exhibitions, Newton has led the Panthers on one touchdown drive and has a completion percentage of 40.4 percent in a league where the best quarterbacks complete 60 percent.

He is having trouble reading defenses and getting the ball to his receivers (he threw eight balls to Steve Smith Thursday, but only one was completed).

"I'm trying to push myself over that hump," Newton said. "I don't want that (learning) curve of three or four years. I'll be doggone if it takes me that long."

It still appears that he will be the starting quarterback for the regular season, although Rivera understandably wouldn't commit to this Thursday night. Jimmy Clausen played the fourth quarter and led the Panthers to zero points with a collection of reserves.

Newton still gives the Panthers a better chance to move the ball, although he looked much less polished than Bengals rookie quarterback Andy Dalton.

The Panthers put a fair amount of stock in this exhibition, playing most of their starters for three quarters and actually trying to game-plan for the Bengals' strengths and weaknesses.

It didn't work. It was the second straight nasty performance for the Panthers (1-2) in preseason - they have trailed by 17 points at halftime in their past two games.

They gave up 269 first-half yards to the Bengals when both teams were playing their best available players, much like they gave up 301 first-half yards to Miami the week before.

The Panthers were forced to throw on offense because they couldn't run it consistently. Jonathan Stewart (eight carries, 13 yards) was stymied behind nonexistent holes. Much of the game looked to be a rerun of the 2-14 season of 2010.

The Bengals - listed by odds makers at around 100-1 to win the Super Bowl just like Carolina is - thoroughly outplayed the Panthers most of the night.

Newton is having growing pains, but he's far from the only one. Rivera said the team was like the little brother getting punched in the face these days, and that one day the Panthers would learn to hit back.

It better come soon. They are running out of time.