Facing about as close to a must-win game as there is in November, the Packers found a way to lose.

It wasn't easy, either, but they managed to pull it off. One minute the Packers were on the brink of a clutch, 31-28 victory over the Carolina Panthers after Mason Crosby's 19-yard field goal with 1:57 remaining.

Moments later the Packers were 35-31 losers, following a 45-yard kickoff return by Mark Jones, a 54-yard pass from Jake Delhomme to Steve Smith and a one-yard touchdown run by DeAngelo Williams -- his fourth 1-yard TD of the game.

At 5-7 and two games out of first place in the stupendously mediocre NFC North, the Packers bear little resemblance to a playoff team. Instead, they are a tease -- a team capable of looking extremely good at times, with a variety of offensive weapons, but ultimately, a team that finds a way to come up short all too often.

It is a troubling reality, particularly for quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who in many ways had a spectacular day. He completed 29 of 45 passes for 298 yards and three touchdowns and sparked a second-half rally that saw the Packers score on their first four possessions -- two touchdowns and two field goals.

But when they got to the 1-yard line in the final minutes, they couldn't get in the end zone. It's the kind of thing that happens to teams that don't make the playoffs.

"We didn't make plays in crunch time," said Rodgers. "We have had a number of games that have come down to the wire and we haven't been able to pull them out and lose by a close margin. We haven't executed at crunch time like we should. We had almost 450 yards today and to lose like that is pretty disappointing."

Of course, there will be those who will note that Rodgers' predecessor at quarterback made his reputation by making plays in crunch time. But even the most diehard Brett Favre fan would have to concede that Rodgers is the least of the Packers' problems.

The most would be the defense -- with Green Bay's kickoff coverage team making a strong case for itself the last couple of weeks. A week after being embarrassed by the New Orleans Saints , the Packers were nearly as bad on both fronts against the Panthers.

"Anytime you lose, it's tough," said linebacker A.J. Hawk. "The way it happened today, with all the opportunities we had, it's hard. It's obviously a tough loss to take. I don't know, the offense is doing a great job of keeping us in games. It's our fault for giving up too many points as a defense."

Statistically, the Packers dominated. They gained 438 yards, to 300 for the Panthers. They made 25 first downs, while the Panthers had just 15. They ran off 76 plays and held the ball for almost 38 minutes, compared to 46 plays and 22 minutes for the Panthers.

But Carolina won because Jones and the kick return team kept putting the Panthers in good field position and Smith made the big catches and when they got the ball to the 1-yard line, Williams punched it in.

Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy, never the most loquacious of postgame orators, was even more succinct than usual in his five-minute postgame press conference. But he made clear that he was disgusted with his team's kick coverage.

"I thought the biggest negative today was field position," said McCarthy. "It's two weeks in a row we're playing on a Football field that's 200 yards longer than our opponent. It's tough to overcome that. I thought that was a huge factor. And we've got to keep them out of the end zone. They made the big plays down the stretch.

"Offensively, I felt we were able to control the clock, manage the Football game. We were backed up a number of times where we had to get long drives and we were able to accomplish that. The negative to the offense is we have to punch the ball in the end zone every time, especially in a game like this. But the biggest thing is the field position. Just look at the statistics."

The statistics show that the Panthers began their 13 possessions on the 40-yard line, on average, while the starting point for the Packers' 13 drives averaged the 23-yard line.

Still, the Packers were able to overcome the field position and a 21-10 halftime deficit to take the lead in the second half. They just couldn't keep it. And when they got to the 1-yard line with the score tied in the final minutes, they couldn't get the touchdown.

Brandon Jackson, who rushed for a season-high 80 yards while filling in for Ryan Grant after he injured his thumb in the second quarter, was stopped for no gain on second down. Fullback John Kuhn got nowhere on third down.

Rodgers said there was some thought about having him run a bootleg play on second down. Asked if he wished he'd had the ball in his hands on either of those plays, he smiled and defended the calls.

"I like both the play calls. We didn't execute them," he said. "You ask anybody on that line, we're a yard away from scoring and going up seven and giving our defense a real good momentum boost there and they'd say those are the two plays they wanted and we should've executed."

After the Panthers' quick go-ahead touchdown, the Packers had one last chance. They started from the usual bad field position -- their own 17-yard line -- with 1:24 on the clock. Just the kind of situation that made Favre a legend.

But the Rodgers legend would have to begin another day, as he misfired on two passes, the second intercepted by Carolina linebacker Jon Beason.

Some might chalk it up as another learning experience for a young quarterback. But not Rodgers.

"To be honest, I'm getting kind of tired learning from experiences like this," he said. "It is pretty frustrating when you lose games like that. You have to be critical of yourself. I felt like I competed today, but I didn't throw the ball as well as I wanted to at times.

"As a quarterback you want the ball in your hands under two minutes with a chance to lead your team to victory. We had two good plays called. The first one I missed Greg (Jennings) and the second one I just underthrew Donald (Driver) a little bit.

"We are disappointed to come up short so many times this year. We aren't going to make excuses, we had the opportunity. We have four games left. It is one at a time, but we have to get this next one for sure and we will probably need some help down the road."

Dennis Punzel - 12/01/2008 8:48 am