CHARLOTTE — The Carolina Panthers’ home opener would have been far better suited for Halloween night under a full moon than for an innocent-looking Sunday afternoon in September.

The Panthers were equal parts awful and unlucky at Ericsson Stadium in a 15-10 loss to the lightly regarded Atlanta Falcons that could only be characterized as bizarre.

The Panthers (1-2) suffered through a season’s worth of embarrassing mishaps. Blocked punts, fumbled punts, fumbled snaps, blocked field goals, penalties, sacks and interceptions. Dismayed parents were forced to cover the eyes of small children by the end of the third quarter.

It was the circus come to town, only without the elephants and bearded ladies.

It was bad enough that Panther quarterback Steve Beuerlein (who threw two picks and was sacked four times) issued an apology. Receiver Muhsin Muhammad called it “one for the NFL follies” and coach George Seifert called it “befuddling, disappointing and fodder for the second-guessers.”

Optimistic fans insisted prior to the game that the Panthers’ schedule was so Charmin-soft that they had every chance in the world to open the season with a 6-1 record. But that sort of success would have flown in the face of history. The Panthers, after all, haven’t been better than .500 since November of ‘97.

“That’s why losses just don’t get any more difficult than this one,” said a subdued Seifert. “We can’t get over that .500 hump. Atlanta did a heck of a job, but we helped them with miscues. Last week (an easy win at San Francisco that had hopes soaring) we did everything right. Today, you name it, and it went wrong. We came unglued.”

The Panthers spotted Atlanta (2-1) a 10-0 lead.

Ray Buchanan’s interception of Beuerlein set up a Morten Andersen field goal for the icebreaker. Then the Falcons put together an actual drive, moving 77 yards primarily on four completions by quarterback Chris Chandler. Jamal Anderson got the touchdown from 26 yards out.

Carolina evened matters by the half. Richie Cunningham, who earlier had a field goal blocked by former Panther Chuck Wiley and Travis Hall, kicked a 33-yarder to finally get Carolina on the board after 25 futile minutes.

Carolina then scored its only touchdown with 15 seconds left when Beuerlein, who threw for 241 yards, spotted a wide-open Muhammad for a 9-yard scoring play.

There was no doubt Carolina had the momentum. The worst appeared to be over and Atlanta had failed to put the game away even after a list of Panther blunders longer than Al Capone’s rap sheet.

“We’d gotten one of the best defensive efforts we’ve had here,” said Seifert. “Our defense was backed up all day, but wouldn’t give up touchdowns.”

But the second half started with a penalty for a false start by Panther lineman Clarence Jones and trudged downhill from there.

Neither team scratched in the third quarter. The Panthers were 0-for-4 on third-down conversions in the quarter; the Falcons were no better.

Then the real craziness started.

Ashley Ambrose picked off a Beuerlein pass that missed Muhammad badly and returned it to the Carolina 30 with 8:39 left.

Again the Panthers held when Reggie White stopped Anderson cold on third and 1 at the 10. But this time, the 40-year-old Andersen delivered on a field goal and the Falcons led 13-10 with 4:10 left on the clock.

There was still time. Fans screamed as Beuerlein found back Tim Biakabutuka over the middle for a huge gain, but the luckless Biakabutuka had the ball poked away at the end of the run and the ever-present Buchanan recovered for Atlanta at the 2:39 mark.

“Prior to that fumble by Tim, we still thought we’d be celebrating,” admitted Seifert.

The play of the game — maybe of the season if it keeps going south for Carolina— came moments later when Anderson circled left end on third and 3, turned Panther safety Rashard Anderson into a crash-test dummy and headed down the sideline staring at nothing but daylight.

Somehow, Panthers Eugene Robinson and Doug Evans caught Anderson at the Panther 3. Robinson knocked the ball away and Evans scooped it up. Unfortunately, Evans’ momentum carried him into the end zone. He stumbled out of bounds, and after considerable discussion, the Falcons were awarded a safety to make it 15-10.

“I thought the ball would be coming out to the 20,” said Evans. “I wasn’t thinking about a safety at all.”

The Panthers challenged the ruling, contending that Evans’ knee had touched the ground before he went into the end zone.

“Once he has possession in the field of play and then goes into the end zone, the rule is clear,” said Seifert. “A player has the responsibility to bring the ball back out. There’s no argument. Our only shot was that Doug was down before he went into the end zone. We’d have been backed up, but at least we’d have possession.”

The call was not overruled. The Falcons got two points and a stranglehold on one of the weirdest games in league history.

“I think their guy (Evans) knew he had possession,” said Atlanta coach Dan Reeves. “It was a tough call, but that’s why you have replay.”

The Panthers had to kick following the safety. The plan was for punter Ken Walter to pooch the ball beyond the Falcons’ front line to give his teammates a chance for a recovery, but in keeping with the spirit of the afternoon, his boot sailed 20 yards further than planned — right into the hands of the Falcon deep men.

Atlanta mercifully ran out the clock from there.

“The worst thing about this one is that we’re off next week,” said Seifert. “That gives us an extra week to think about it.”