Forget the scoreboard for a second. This loss to the Chicago Bears revealed a familiar, soul-crushing pattern of self-destruction. It feels like a recurring nightmare for the Green Bay Packers.
You lose games in the NFL. There has only ever been one perfect team, and that's the 1972 Dolphins. Heck, even Tom Brady's juggernaut 2007 New England Patriots lost in the Super Bowl.
Losing happens in the NFL, and for as many games as the Green Bay Packers have won in the franchise's illustrious history, they've also lost plenty, too.
That's life in the NFL, where parity is king.
Maybe that's coping after Green Bay's 22-16 overtime loss to the Chicago Bears, but it's the truth.
What's also the truth is that if you're a Packers fan waking up this morning feeling football hungover (and perhaps for real hungover), it's not the loss that's stuck in your craw.
It's the meltdown.
We've seen it before with the Packers. This game had eerie similarities to the 2014 NFC Championship game that saw the Packers lose because of a botched onside kick recovery and then a big play given up in overtime.
It looked the same, felt the same, but everything else was different. Different players. Different teams. The only thing that remained the same was the logo on the helmet.
So it's a familiar sickness that Packers fans are feeling on Sunday morning. It's not necessarily unique to the Packers (just ask any Atlanta Falcons fan about Super Bowl LI) but it's a familiar story, especially in the Matt LaFleur era.
The lack of discipline. The lack of fundamentals. The inability to close out a team that you had an edge on. These are all issues we've seen pop up their ugly heads in LaFleur's seven seasons with the Packers.
And it's a shame, too, because things like a facemask, blown coverage, fumbles, and a lack of execution on special teams ruined what was ultimately a good game from LaFleur and the Packers. Without star players like Micah Parsons, Evan Williams, Zach Tom and even Jordan Love, the Packers had a seven-point lead with under two minutes to go.
All they had to do was slam the door shut, but they couldn't do it.
That's what hurts the most. There's no killer instinct with this team, and there may never be as long as LaFleur is the head coach.
“I’ve got to process what happened, how that happened and try to find ways for us to not put ourselves in these tough situations,” LaFleur said after the game, according to Pro Football Talk. “The majority of the game I felt like we were pretty much in control of the game, and certainly it’s extremely disappointing when you can’t finish the job.”
"Extremely disappointing".
That about sums it up, doesn't it?