Panthers wallop Cardinals 27-16 in an ugly start to NFL playoffs.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - When ugly meets ugly, they don't offset. They multiply.

The Carolina Panthers are the first team with a losing record to make the playoffs in four years. The Arizona Cardinals are quarterbacked by a guy who's a replacement for the replacement.

The NFL always places its least-desirable playoff game in the Saturday afternoon slot. Unfortunately for the viewing sensibilities of the millions of NFL viewers who tuned in, the Panthers' 27-16 defeat of the Cardinals lived down to expectations.

Carolina won and won going away, but it's tough to get any kind of read on how well the Panthers stack up against any other NFC playoff team, simply because the Cardinals were flat-out awful. Injuried had felled the running back and two quarterbacks who had led the team to a 9-1 start and 11-5 record, and their replacements simply weren't up to the task of playing competent football in the NFL playoffs.

Not that the Panthers made it easy on themselves. After streaking out to a confident 10-0 lead in the game's first nine minutes, Carolina's Brenton Bersin fumbled a punt and quarterback Cam Newton threw a costly interception. Both turnovers led to Arizona touchdowns, and at halftime, the Cardinals held a 14-13 lead despite amassing only 65 yards of total offense to Carolina's 208.

But the Cardinals couldn't score any more points, and unfortunately, a one-point lead didn't hold up. The game turned for good midway through the third quarter. After yet another godawful Arizona punt, the Panthers started at the Arizona 39, and on the very first play from scrimmage, running back Fozzy Whitaker just happened to run 39 yards for a touchdown.

Bad enough for Arizona on its own, yes, but Arizona kick returner Ted Ginn Jr. only made matters worse on the ensuing kickoff, when he decided to run out a ball he caught nine yards deep in the end zone. He fumbled on the 5, Carolina recovered it on the 3, and four plays later put another touchdown on the board. That put the score at 27-14, and that was more than enough to do in the Cardinals. The Panthers willingly surrendered a late safety to run the final seconds off the clock, but the game was over long before then.

If Dallas beats Detroit on Sunday, the Panthers will travel to Seattle. If Detroit wins, Carolina goes to Green Bay. Either one should prove more of a test than this week. The Cardinals, meanwhile, will have an entire offseason to regret how a season that started out so well could have turned so awful so quickly.

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter.

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