CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Carolina Panthers were in jeopardy of blowing a big lead and a big opportunity on Sunday when Cam Newton pulled the ball from the gut of his running back with just over two minutes remaining.

Suddenly, the quarterback who seemingly gave the game away on the previous series with an interception off the hands of Christian McCaffrey was running alone in the open field.

Newton didn’t score, but his 62-yard run set up Jonathan Stewart's third touchdown and gave the Panthers a 31-24 victory against a Minnesota Vikings team that had won eight straight games.

It was a statement victory for a team desperately looking to make a statement and establish itself as a contender for the NFC championship.

"A new beginning,'' defensive end Mario Addison said.

Said Newton, who also made a statement in his postgame news conference with a brimless hat, "We're just trying to get winning DNA.''

Until the late collapse -- Carolina led 24-13 in the middle of the fourth quarter, only to see the Vikings tie it with just over three minutes left -- the team that beat Minnesota was as close to what coach Ron Rivera envisioned way back in training camp.

The running game was working without Newton carrying the load. Stewart rushed for 103 yards, including a 60-yard touchdown on Carolina’s third offensive play, and a career-best three touchdowns.

The defense was aggressive and forced mistakes against a team and quarterback that hadn’t made many the past two months. An interception by Daryl Worley, the first by a Carolina cornerback all season, set up Stewart’s first touchdown run.

James Bradberry, the other starting corner, added a pick in the fourth quarter.

A strip-sack on Case Keenum set up a field goal. It was one of six sacks against the Minnesota quarterback, who had been sacked only nine times all season.

It was the biggest statement for a Carolina team that hadn’t made one since a Week 4 33-30 victory at New England before the Patriots got right defensively.

"It's definitely a confidence booster,'' nickel back Captain Munnerlyn said.

Like the win against New England, this one came after a deflating and lopsided loss to New Orleans.

The Panthers are now 9-4 and tied with New Orleans in the NFC South. They still need to win out against Green Bay, Tampa Bay and Atlanta and have New Orleans lose one more game to win the division.

But the gloom and doom from a week ago has disappeared. There’s still a chance the Panthers, should they win the division and Minnesota (10-3) lose another game, could finish with the No. 2 seed in the NFC and get a first-round bye.

Catching Philadelphia (10-2) will be difficult, particularly since the Eagles own the tiebreaker with a Week 6 win over Carolina.

But Sunday’s win opened up possibilities that didn’t seem likely a week ago after a 31-21 loss to New Orleans. It showed a team that began the season with Super Bowl aspirations might have a chance to achieve them.

"It was definitely a big win for us as a football team,'' outside linebacker Thomas Davis said. "We didn't play well at all last week. We knew we were going against a really good football team. They're sitting No. 1 in the NFC, so we knew we had a tough challenge ahead of us. We knew this game was going to come down to the fourth quarter.''

It came down to a big stand by the defense and a big play by Newton. That the Panthers were in position prior to that without a Superman-like performance from their quarterback spoke volumes. It was reminiscent to the way this team won during the 2015 season when it steamrolled through the NFC to the Super Bowl with a 17-1 record.

The return of two Pro Bowl starters, center Ryan Kalil and Olsen, seemed to stabilize the offense even though Olsen didn’t have a catch and his fourth-quarter miss led to an interception. The Panthers were much more balanced and efficient than they have been the past two games.

The defense played well with the exception of a 52-yard fourth-quarter touchdown catch by Adam Thielen that kept this one in doubt until the end.

The Panthers held the Vikings to a field goal with 3 minutes, 7 seconds left after they had first-and-goal at the 5 following Newton's interception. They held them scoreless after another Minnesota drive started at the Carolina 30.

And while much will be made about the way the Panthers almost blew it, that they found a way to win in the end may have been their biggest statement.

"It says a lot about us,'' Olsen said. "We would prefer to win the game regularly and not always have to make it so hard, but teams like that, they don't just lay down.''