After a 13-3 season in 2007 that fell one victory short of a trip to the Super Bowl, the Packers went through a gut-wrenching soap opera in the summer before finally trading Brett Favre.

They were moving on with Aaron Rodgers.

Then they started 2-0. Rodgers was playing well. Hopes were rising.

And then came a three-game losing streak and a shoulder injury to Rodgers.

In the first two weeks, the Packers made all the big plays. They proved unable to make those plays in losses to Dallas, Tampa Bay and Atlanta.

But as .500 teams tend to do, the Packers picked up the pieces.

They scored victories at Seattle and at home against Indianapolis.

All seemed right with the Packer universe as the team headed into the bye.

Rodgers got healthier. Al Harris got healthy. Atari Bigby got healthy.

Nothing but blue skies ahead, right?

Guess again.

Heartbreak came back again in the form of road losses at Tennessee and Minnesota.

Two games that were there for the taking. No one said they were easy games. The other guys were getting paid, too.

But the games were still there for the Packers to win.

They reached the Tennessee 45-yard line in the closing minutes of regulation and then never made another play and lost in overtime.

A week later, the Packers had the lead and the ball with a chance to close out the Vikings. A penalty forced them to settle for a field goal that didn't put the game out of reach, and the defense couldn't hold.

Adrian Peterson scored a go-ahead touchdown, and the Packers lost when Mason Crosby's 52-yard field goal went about 18 inches wide right.

So at 4-5, the Packers were once again in a hole.

The one thing in their favor was that the Vikings and Chicago Bears were dawdling along, too.

And the Packers had the Bears on their schedule next.

So what did they do? They put together their best performance of the season, a 37-3 thrashing of the Bears that created a three-way tie at the top of the NFC North.

They were back at the top of their game, everyone thought.

They had their own destiny in their hands again.

They were playing Packer Football again.

This was their time.

THUD!

The Packers' performance Monday night in New Orleans was an embarrassment. The defense that everyone believed in couldn't come close to stopping Drew Brees and the Saints.

Charles Woodson blitzes, and the Packers get burned for a 70-yard touchdown when Bigby blows a tackle.

Derrick Frost shanks a punt, and the Packers are quickly behind.

Rodgers engineers two drives to get the Packers into a 21-21 tie, and the kickoff coverage team gives up a 62-yard return and the Packers are behind for good.

In the second half, the defense again proved futile. So the offense had to match the Saints, score-for-score, and it couldn't. The game turned into a route, and suddenly the Packers are a game behind the Bears and Vikings again.

Now this is not to say the season is over. The Packers can still get hot. The Bears and Vikings are sure to have their slip-ups over the final five games.

But the point here is: Expecting the Packers to suddenly be better over the final five games than they were over a disappointing first 11 games is probably more wish than reality.

They're not good enough.

In the losses at Tennessee and Minnesota, the offensive line wasn't good enough. In the last two games, the offensive line was not the problem.

But the mark of a mediocre team is when it fixes its weaknesses, its strengths falter.

So while the offensive line held up nicely and helped the Packers score 29 points on Monday, the defense - particularly the secondary - that had been so excellent failed to show.

Whereas Rodgers has been playing well and helped put up those 29 points with two touchdown passes and a 10-yard run for another, he also threw into double-coverage for an interception that led to the Packers falling behind by three scores.

And the way the defense was playing, that was an insurmountable lead.

When mediocre teams fix their problems, other problems pop up.

And there's no other way to put it right now: The Packers in 2008 are a mediocre team.

Send e-mail to rbraun@journalsentinel.com

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