As do-or-die time approaches, Green Bay cant afford uneven play in the clutch

Mike Spofford

GREEN BAY The season has reached crunch time, and what the Packers do with it will almost certainly hinge on what they do in each game at, well, crunch time.

Because in looking back at Green Bay's 9-5-1 record, several of their nine wins are the result of clutch execution with the game on the line, getting it done in those gotta-have-it times.

But in the same breath, last Saturday's late meltdown in Chicago was a reminder that letting winnable games get away in the final moments is a big reason the Packers aren't currently leading the NFC North with better chances at improved playoff position.

So as the Baltimore Ravens visit Lambeau Field on Saturday night playing for their playoff lives, it's worth asking the question: Which crunch-time team is going to show up for Green Bay when the season depends on it?

The one that converted a clutch fourth-and-2 at Arizona with 2 minutes left to help score the go-ahead touchdown, followed by the defense getting a sack in the last half-minute with the Cardinals approaching the red zone?

That was as big-time as it gets on both sides of the ball to find a way to win a hotly contested game.

Others since then have included:

• Outscoring the Steelers 21-6 on the road in the fourth quarter.
• Driving 65 yards for the go-ahead touchdown with less than five minutes left against the Giants and then sealing the win with an interception.
• Getting a sack to force a late Detroit field goal on Thanksgiving, and then killing the clock with a clutch fourth-down completion.
• Driving 65 yards again for a go-ahead TD with 3 minutes to go in the first Bears meeting before turning them away with an end-zone pick on fourth down.

That's a lot of crunch-time success, enough to give any team the confidence and belief it can get the job done in high-pressure spots.

But then there's the other side of the coin:

• Blowing a 10-point lead at Cleveland with four minutes left, with the miscues featuring an interception, two defensive penalties and a blocked field goal.
• Allowing a 19-yard run on second-and-10 from midfield in the final minute that set up Carolina's walk-off field goal.
• Botching a fourth-and-1 run under two minutes down by three to the Eagles.
• Gaining just one first down on three possessions in the back half of the fourth quarter at Denver when trailing by eight.
• Squandering a 10-point lead in the last five minutes at Chicago thanks to a failed onside kick recovery, fourth-down coverage bust, and fumbled snap in overtime.

The Packers have too often not been the better team at crunch time, with the epitome coming last Saturday at Soldier Field.

"Obviously, it hurt," safetyXavier McKinneysaid. "That (stuff) hurt all of us. We was feeling a certain type of way about it because of how it happened. I don't think there's a player in here or even a coach that got over it right after the game. Like, nah, we was mad for a couple days. I know I was.

"But, at the end of the day, you've got to turn that page, you've got to move on and that's what we're doing."

Realistically, every one of the Packers' five losses was there for the taking. No team is going to win all of them, because the league is filled with too many close, down-to-the-wire games.

But it's fair to argue that while the Packers have been good enough to put a few teams away before crunch time arrives, they're about 50-50 in pulling out the really tight games.

To be among the elite in the NFL, a team has to be better than 50-50 in those spots, and the Packers must start stacking more on their side of the ledger, because one more on the wrong side at the wrong time will mean the end of their season.

"It's the NFL, so you never know what's going to happen," right tackleZach Tomsaid. "Obviously, we've let some games go that we probably shouldn't have, so we definitely got ourselves in a situation where we have to win, but we've been here before so it's no different. We've just got to focus on winning this week."

Here's more to ponder: The fourth-down catch and sack in Arizona came from Tucker Kraft and Micah Parsons, respectively. It was Parsons again on the late sack in Detroit, andEvan Williamson the INT vs. the Giants.

None of those players was on the field in Chicago, though Williams is eyeing a possible return this week from his knee injury. So the Packers have lost some of their most clutch players and need others to step into the void.

The fickle nature of this league is exemplified somewhat in cornerbackKeisean Nixon, who was the hero with the fourth-down INT in the first matchup with the Bears but was also in the middle of the fourth-down coverage bust in the rematch. Then the adversity was piled on when Caleb Williams and DJ Moore executed an impressive pitch-and-catch in overtime despite Nixon's solid coverage.

QBJordan Love, trying to work his way through the concussion protocol so he can return to action against the Ravens, has been on both ends of crunch time plenty, too, which is typical of his position. And Nixon's, for that matter.

That's the NFL, and at the end of every season, what's in the history books are all the stats from each full year. But what really matters within each individual season is what's produced when games are in the balance, when one's performance is the difference between a win and a loss.

The Packers got a face full of that reality cream pie last Saturday, when borderline dominating a game for 55-plus minutes didn't matter because all three phases struggled at crunch time to finish the deal.

It can't happen again come postseason time, or there'll be nothing left to play for.

"That's a point that's been driven home all season long," Head Coach Matt LaFleur said. "You just can't let up for one second, because if you do, we've seen it both ways, where it totally impacts the game. You've just got to stay in the fight, and you've got to keep swinging until they tell you to stop swinging."