No winning instinct

I haven't written about the Packers' embarrassment from Sunday against the Bills as whenever I tried, I got too pissed off and stopped. Whether it was Brett having a ball snapped off his face, or 2 completely ill-advised throws to a covered Donald Driver on a quick slant, or the defense just giving up after that 2nd INT, it just all did me in.

It's the 3rd game this year where the Packers should have won and didn't. The Packers lack that something that winning teams have. Some may say it's experience or talent. I say it's this: killer instinct. For example:

End of the 2nd Q, Packers driving and have a first and goal from the 5 with 10 seconds left. Wells snaps the ball to Favre who is simply looking to the right. He's not calling a play or shouting instructions, and the ball goes right off his face mask because he's not paying attention. The rest of the offense moved at the snap except for Favre.

Start of the 3rd Q, the Pack have busted off some huge runs, but then decide to quit running the ball, and 3 incompletions later, waste an opportunity inside Buffalo territory.

4th Q, the Packers D has owned the Bills offense all day. They have forced a 2nd and 20. Inexplicably, the secondary (Al Harris and the safety) do not cover Lee Evans, Buffalo's best WR and thus, a TD is scored.

4th Q, the Packers had been running the ball at will against the Bills in the 3rd and 4th Q. They had a first and goal at the one. The killer instinct would have been to give the ball to Green, step on the Bills throats and score the TD to tie the game. Instead, they step off of the Bills and call a foolish pass play that turned out to be the finishing blow against the Pack.

Time and time again, the team had prime opportunities to score points, and failed. The defense, while very good all day, failed miserably in the 4th Q, when the team needed them most. Some of it is play calling, other times it's miserable execution. But you don't see good teams meltdown like this as often as the Packers do. It's not as easy as just blaming the overall youth of the Packers, as the young kids did well enough. Simply put, the Packers don't know how to win right now, and it's showing.