What did Sunday’s NFC divisional matchup between the 49ers and Panthers eventually come down to? Well, not one thing in particular. In fact, the Panthers just got out-played by the 49ers.

While the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints make compelling arguments for the most disappointing performances of the weekend, Carolina takes the cake. After having a week off to prepare, the No. 2 seed in the NFC came out flat, scoring just 10 points and getting shutout in the second half of the game by San Francisco.

But what specifically went wrong?

For starters, Carolina had opportunities to score, but couldn’t capitalize on them. In the first half, Cam Newton and the Panthers had two goal line opportunities. In the first quarter, they ended an eight-play, 65-yard drive in a turnover on downs when they went for it on fourth down on San Francisco’s doorstep.

Then, at the beginning of the second quarter, the Panthers drove 73 yards on 13 plays and only mustered a field goal after coming up short at the goal line once again.

The playcalling in both these situations should be called into question for Ron Rivera’s offense. When inside the five, the Panthers seemed to give up on all passing options, and instead would just run Mike Tolbert between the tackles for a one-yard gain, if that.

River and offensive coordinator Mike Shula seemed to forget that they even had Newton on the roster. After failing to run the ball in the first time, the Panthers failed to even try to get Newton out on the edges to either run it in or try to find Greg Olsen in the end zone on a play action bootleg.

Overall, the Panthers were 0-for-3 on scoring touchdowns in the red zone.

Playcalling aside, the Panthers failed on these two chances to score as well because their offensive line was just over-powered by San Francisco’s front seven, and Tolbert couldn’t find a hole to run through, no matter how hard he looked.

However, after getting stopped on third down and turning the ball over on downs, the Panthers were able to force the 49ers to punt inside their own 20, giving the Panthers great field position, which they turned into a touchdown. Despite that, Rivera and the rest of the coaching staff can definitely look back at those two chances to get the ball into the end zone as reasons why their season came to an end.

Outside of those two opportunities, Carolina’s defense also disappointed. Sure, giving up 23 points isn’t ideal, but the scoring isn’t what cost the Panthers.

Carolina only sacked Colin Kaepernick once for seven yards. That’s pretty disappointing considering the Panthers led the NFL this season in sacks with 60, averaging over seven yards lost per sack.

Kaepernick hardly ever felt pressure, and while he didn’t have amazing passing numbers, he was still effective enough to sustain some long drives for the 49ers. Luke Kuechly certainly wasn’t the problem, he had 10 total tackles, two of them for a loss, and a sack.

But Greg Hardy, who was third in the NFL this season this year in sacks, only had one solo tackle. Overall, Carolina’s front seven just wasn’t active enough in the 49ers backfield.

Further back in the defense, the secondary also allowed Anquan Boldin to have a huge game, and turn the momentum in San Fran’s favor a number of times. The veteran had eight receptions for 136 yards in the 49ers’ effort to get to their third straight NFC Championship game.

Obviously, any time you give up 136 yards to a receiver, it’s going to be a long day. But numbers aside, the Panthers allowed Boldin to dominate the psychological game. Seven of Boldin’s catches were for first downs. And every time after he’d pick up a first down, Boldin would have something to say to the Carolina defense.

Eventually, Carolina began making mental mistakes, finishing the game with eight penalties, costing them 73 yards, compared to the 49ers’ five penalties for 40 yards.

And last and most obviously, the Panthers lost on Sunday because they couldn’t run the ball. Going into the game, I said that DeAngelo Williams needed to have a big game. Well, he didn’t.

Williams was almost invisible, carrying the ball five times for just 13 yards (2.6 yards per carry) and Newton finished the game as the team’s leading rusher. Tolbert ended up playing more offensive snaps than Williams, who was on the field for just 24 of Carolina’s 56 offensive snaps, according to Football Outsiders.

Compare that to the 49ers, who ran for 126 total yards, including 84 yards from Frank Gore.

This weekend, every team that won was able to run the battle better than their opponents (see: New England’s LeGarrette Blount and Seattle’s Marshawn Lynch). In the passing game, neither Williams or Tolbert were involved, effectively limiting Carolina’s offense to Newton running the ball, and throwing it to Ted Ginn Jr. after Steve Smith’s injury started to hamper him.

Not a lot went right for the Panthers against the 49ers on Sunday, but at least Rivera and the coaching staff will be able to pinpoint in the film what exactly went wrong.