CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Julius Peppers was invisible. Steve Smith made a costly error. Jon Beason lost his cool. DeAngelo Williams inexplicably rarely got the ball.

And Jake Delhomme kept turning it over.

There are no shortage of reasons why the Carolina Panthers dropped to 0-3 Monday night with a 21-7 loss to Dallas. It doesn’t make their fall from NFC South champions to a team in disarray any less jarring.

Now with a bye this weekend, the Panthers get nearly two weeks to think about their predicament, too.

“At least we can’t lose,” tackle Jordan Gross said.

With a turnover-machine offense that has abandoned the run and a poor-tackling, banged-up defense that’s become an opposing running back’s dream, the Panthers may need at least two weeks to fix what’s wrong.

Trouble is, it may already be too late. Since 1990, only three teams started 0-3 and made the playoffs.

It’s why Beason last week called the Cowboys game a “must-win.” The middle linebacker was so agitated Monday he drew a 15-yard penalty for a late hit in the first half. Beason’s frustration only grew in the second half, as the Cowboys finished with 212 yards rushing despite being without Marion Barber.

“That is unacceptable,” linebacker Thomas Davis said. “We feel like we want to be an elite defense in this league. And we can’t go out on any given night and give up 200 yards rushing to anybody.”

The Panthers played their third straight game without starting strong safety Chris Harris (knee) and have a hole at defensive tackle with Maake Kemoeatu (Achilles’ tendon) out for the year.

It didn’t help that Peppers was a non-factor again, collecting only two tackles and causing no trouble for quarterback Tony Romo. Making more than $1 million a game, the defensive end has managed four tackles and no sacks in the past two games.

Still, Carolina had a chance. The Panthers took over at their own 10 midway through the fourth quarter trailing 13-7. Williams’ 11-yard run — one of his only 11 carries — gave Carolina its initial first down of the second half with 5:45 left.

Then Delhomme dropped back to throw a slant pass to Smith. They’ve been together for seven years, but Smith broke off the route instead of stepping in front of cornerback Terence Newman. Easy interception, and 27 yards later Newman was celebrating the clinching touchdown.