How bad was Tesla's bad week?

Last week, after almost a year of unbeatable reviews and a rising stock price, Tesla Motors hit the skids.

In just six short days, the company released a weaker-than-expected earnings report, George Clooney gave his Tesla a bad review, and — most significantly by far — a third Model S burst into flames.

That's a lot for a baby car brand to take in one week. Though the earnings report was mostly positive, a couple unexpected blemishes overshadowed rising sales and production. In the third quarter, Tesla sold fewer zero emission certificates to other car makers — historically an important source of revenue for the company — and released a weaker-than-predicted projection for future results.

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In just three hours after the release, the stock dropped $20, more than 11 percent.

Then Clooney spoke up. In a profile for the December issue of Esquire, the actor said:

Clooney's diss might not have smarted so much if it wasn't bolstered by recent news events: Last week, the third Tesla sedan in six weeks burst into flames near Smyrna, Tenn. With only about 19,000 Teslas on the road, a third fire was enough to spark an investigation by the The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Megan McArdle at Bloomberg explains why this is troubling:

"If the government actually finds a design flaw, consumers may be unlikely to give Tesla a second chance to do it right," says McArdle.

But Daniel Gross at The Daily Beast says Tesla's troubles — even the combustible sedans — are just a bump in the road: