Humiliation. Humbling. Shameful. Unacceptable. A disgrace.
Catrastrophe. Disaster. Calamity.
You can pick any label you want - or invent one of your own.
READ MORE: Lee Johnson apologises to Sunderland fans after Bolton humiliation, and accepts criticism
But whichever way you look at it, whatever words you choose, this was a dark day for Sunderland, this group of players, and for Lee Johnson.
It was Sunderland's heaviest defeat for more than seven years, their heaviest ever in the third tier, and their heaviest in 150 meetings with Bolton Wanderers in all competitions.
Sunderland started the day within reach of the summit of League One, yet they turned in a performance that would have embarrassed the most lowly of relegation strugglers.
They were a disjointed, disorganised, shambolic, rabble.
It was put to Johnson afterwards that towards the end it looked like his players had given up.
Unsurprisingly, he rejected that idea.
But the evidence of your own eyes is impossible to refute.
They lost 6-0 and the scoreline did not flatter Bolton at all.
More than 5,300 Sunderland fans had travelled to the University of Bolton Stadium, but most had left long before full-time and those that remained until the bitter end vented their fury at the players as they offered half-hearted gestures of apology from a safe distance.
Johnson accepted responsibility for the defeat afterwards and again apologised to the supporters - not that it cut any ice.
As he himself admitted: "Words are cheap."
The problem for Johnson is that this was not a one-off.
It is the third time this season that Sunderland have lost a league game by four or more goals - more than any other side in the division.
A 4-0 defeat a Portsmouth, a 5-1 defeat at Rotherham, and now this.
Then, while It didn't reach the four-goal threshold, you can chuck in the 3-0 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday as another chastening day on the road.
Sunderland have conceded 30 goals in 15 games on their travels, which is the highest figure in League One.
Compare that to the nine they have conceded in 14 games at home, which is the best record in the third tier.
Sunderland do not field wildly different starting XIs, use completely different formations, or employ totally different tactics on their travels, so what is going on here?
How can Sunderland keep a clean sheet against Portsmouth on Wearside one week, and then allow Dion Charles and Dapu Afolayan to run riot the next?
Yes, Sunderland played three at the back against Pompey and four at the back at Bolton, but don't get bogged down in shapes and systems.
A back four has been the norm this season, not the exception.
They could have played any system against Bolton and if the players performed the way they did yesterday it would have made no difference.
The tone was set from the moment a long wind-assisted clearance from the keeper caught out the Sunderland defence, Thorben Hoffmann misjudged the flight of the ball and was caught in no man's land, and Charles applied the finish.
A rapid counter provided Afolayan with the second just before half-time.
Charles volleyed home number three soon after the break, with Bolton passing around Sunderland's static defence to set up the fourth for Kieran Lee on the hour.
Danny Batth scored a textbook diving header, unfortunately at the wrong end, for the fifth late on, but there was still time for one-time Sunderland loanee Declan John to pick out the top corner for number six.
Batth made an outstanding debut against Portsmouth and this was only his second appearance.
Heaven knows what fellow new signings Jack Clarke and Patrick Roberts made of it when they were thrown on for their debuts in the second half.
It was just horrific from start to finish.
Having said all that, I should just add that a sense of proportion is needed.
The notion that this was Sunderland's worst-ever defeat is for the birds.
Sunderland were beaten by a team in the same division by a margin of six goals.
Four times in the club's history they have lost a league game by eight goals without reply - most recently at Southampton in October 2014 - and once by seven.
And is a 6-0 defeat against a team in the same division worse than, say, a 2-1 defeat for a top flight side against non-league opposition such as Sunderland's Bank of England team experienced against Yeovil in the FA Cup in 1949?
But the fact that it is necessary to dig into the history books to try to find out where this defeat ranks in some kind of Hall of Shame tells you everything.
Johnson knows that he will come in for an avalanche of criticism this week.
It goes with the territory.
He also knows that, whatever the club hierarchy might have said to ease the pressure, promotion this season is non-negotiable in the eyes of supporters.
Sunderland are still third in the table, but he cannot afford another day like this.
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