Packers searching for answers after blowing another lead late - ESPN

MINNEAPOLIS — Eight months have passed, yet almost everything about the Green Bay Packers has stayed the same. The team that blew lead after lead late last season, culminating in a playoff loss in a game Green Bay led by 18 points in the second half, did it again to start this season.

And the team still doesn't have any answers for it.

This one, a 39-22 loss to the Vikings in the season opener, was a meltdown, similar to the collapses in Chicago and the debacle in Denver. It was the Packers' sixth straight loss, including playoffs, dating to last season. In four of those games (twice against the Bears, including the playoffs, once against the Broncos and now this), they held leads of more than one score.

«I think it's going to be a topic of conversation for all you guys until we do it,» Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. «That's the bottom line.»

LaFleur's mantra all offseason was finish — as in finish every drill in OTA strong and finish every play in training camp without letting up.

And yet the Packers still couldn't do it.

«We're the best team in the NFL,» tight end Tucker Kraft said. «But if we don't go out there and play like it, no one's going to believe us.»

The Packers seemingly had the game in hand. They led 22-10 early in the third quarter and were up 22-17 early in the fourth quarter when things went haywire. Rookie kicker Trey Smack had given the Packers an eight-point lead with a 40-yard field goal with 13:17 left in the game. But when the Vikings jumped offside, LaFleur took the points off the board because the penalty gave them a fourth-and-1.

«We're going to be aggressive,» LaFleur said. «It was going to be an eight-point game. If it would have been a two-possession game, I probably would have thought