How An Uplifting Win Turned Into a Gutwrenching, Hope-Damaging Defeat

This just hasn't been Green Bay's year.

Many fans are going to trace it directly back to the day the Packers decided to go with Aaron Rodgers as the starting quarterback, even though future Hall of Famer Brett Favre was contemplating a return from his short retirement.

Others will look -- more accurately -- at the day general manager Ted Thompson traded hulking defensive tackle Corey Williams to Cleveland to avoid giving him a huge contract. Or the day Thompson decided that second-year tackle Justin Harrell would be able to fill that void.

Coming from a Packer fan, there are too many people to point fingers at on this one.

While Rodgers is not at all immune, he's handled the spotlight very well. His teammates have praised his play on the field, and they've praised his off-field presence. This fan believes you couldn't have scripted a better transition from Favre to the next guy. Rodgers didn't ask for it to go down this way, and nearly all the criticism that's been thrown his way has been completely unfair.

He's played well. Others who carried high expectations into the season have not. The reality is that the Packers are 5-7, an extreme longshot for the playoffs, and Sunday's fourth quarter was a microcosm of the season to this point.

The fourth quarter started promisingly enough, as Rodgers found Greg Jennings and made a perfect throw for his third score of the game. It gave the Packers a 28-21 lead, but the momentum gained from that play didn't even last through the ensuing kickoff.

Carolina's Mark Jones took that kickoff to the 50 before the Packers figured out how to tackle him. That short field got even shorter when quarterback Jake Delhomme found star receiver Steve Smith inexplicably in one-on-one coverage against Tramon Williams. He went up to make a superb catch at the Packers' one-yard-line, and DeAngelo Williams punched it in from there to tie the game.

Another great Rodgers drive followed, as he led the Packers to the Carolina one. This time, the Packers would fail to punch it in. A couple of runs from the one failed, and after the clock hit the two-minute warning, head coach Mike McCarthy decided to take the three points. While the Bears' decision to go for it was decried by our own Matt Snyder, I think it would have made some sense for the Packers to go for it. Of course, "taking the points" is also a defensible decision.

After Jones' return, Delhomme found Smith, this time in bracket coverage. Safety for a Day Charles Woodson was running with Smith, but misplayed the ball badly. Linebacker Brandon Chillar was in on the play, but seemed to lose the ball in the sky. Williams' fourth one-yard score of the game (Carolina's fifth rushing score from that distance) gave the Panthers a 35-31 lead, and a late Jon Beason interception sealed the deal.

Though Rodgers threw that late pick, you can't blame the loss on him. It's hard to put the blame on the shoulders of anyone on the offensive line, because they generally played well enough to win. The Packers have put up 87 points in their last three losses, and in the loss before that took an unbeaten team to overtime on their home field (Tennessee). The common thread in those four losses is the lack of playmaking ability on the defense.

Surely, the injuries have hurt, but you can't just blame those. A.J. Hawk, Nick Collins, Brady Poppinga, and others have had high expectations and have not delivered. The Packers have already topped their total points allowed from a season ago, and they still have four games left. At least some of that blame has to fall on defensive coordinator Bob Sanders, who wasn't exactly popular among Packer fans before the last three games. Surely, they're not going to be pleased as punch from their team failing to stop Minnesota's one-man offense, New Orleans' one-dimensional offense, or Carolina's two-man offense (DeAngelo Williams and Smith).

In defense of Sanders, it's not his fault that the Packers' coverage unit has done an amazing disappearing act recently. Green Bay opponents have averaged 37 yards per kickoff return the last two games, and it has cost the Packers dearly almost every time. Ironically, this latest meltdown came a few days after a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article talked about the Packers' decision to sign punter Derrick Frost and cut incumbent Jon Ryan after training camp. Ryan went and saw an outside consultant, former special teams coach Gary Zauner, after he was cut, and he's been solid in Seattle. The use of outside coaches is something frowned upon by Packers special teams coach Mike Stock.

"If you want to get into the discussion of, does this guy know more about punting than the other guy? Do you want to read my bio? I'm not promoting myself, but I know what I know and I know what I've done and I know the people I've worked with.

"It's a matter of, this is the guy who is coaching that position. And this is his philosophy and this is the team's philosophy, and that's the philosophy we'll follow."

(Insert a roll of the eyes here.)

Frost averaged 33.5 yards on four punts against the Saints. In New Orleans. Perhaps Stock should invite the help of outside coaches, because he's clearly doing something wrong. Either that, or there was a huge windstorm in the Superdome that somehow went unnoticed by anyone but the Packers' punter.

On offense, left tackle Chad Clifton is suddenly playing like he's 48 years old, and he's been terrible at times in protecting Rodgers' blind side. The running game has started to gain some life, and Rodgers has made it virtually clear to everyone that it wasn't just Favre driving the ship the last few years. These skill-position players are pretty good, too.

All that said, and the Packers are 5-7. If they don't win out, they have no shot at the playoffs, and even that might not be enough.