Unfortunately, the Green Bay Packers were in a similar position a month ago. They had just lost a hard-fought game to NFC North rival Minnesota but were looking at an upcoming matchup against a struggling team that would give them the opportunity to get back on the winning track.
Only this time, the Packers had to turn the page much quicker.
After losing to the Vikings back on Oct. 5, the Packers headed into their bye week. They had all kinds of time to lick their wounds before preparing for back-to-back contests against Detroit and Cleveland, and they took care of business in both instances to get back above the .500 mark.
This week, the team that awaits is the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but the Packers had to put last Sunday's loss to the Vikings behind them right away and immediately turn their attention forward. There was no time to waste, and the players said they didn't wallow in any misery this week, no matter how frustrating the two losses to the Vikings have been.
"It's tough but really nobody is talking about (Minnesota)," nose tackle Ryan Pickett said. "We're just focusing on winning this week. We know we have to win this game in Tampa. We win this game, we're 5-3, we'll be in good shape, and we're just going to try to get better."
Having the two Minnesota games out of the way is both good news and bad news for Green Bay. The good news is all the talk and media hype surrounding former Packers quarterback Brett Favre is done and over with for 2009, barring a third meeting in the postseason. Not that the players were distracted by all the storylines against Minnesota, but now all that drama has officially vanished.
The bad news, though, is the Packers are two games behind the Vikings in the loss column and will have to rely on other teams to beat them in order to close the gap in the division race. Minnesota is off this week but then plays five of its remaining eight games at home, including three straight beginning next week.
That will make the Vikings tough to catch, for sure, but the only thing the Packers can control is their own won-loss record, and getting to five wins at the midway point will at least put them in the thick of what's shaping up to be a highly competitive battle for the NFC's two wild-card playoff spots.
"These games are getting real important," quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. "As you get in November and December is when the playoffs start getting formed, who's going to be in, who's going to be out, who's on the bubble. Right now we're in need of some wins, and we need to string them together, get our confidence going, and when we get to December, we make a push for the playoffs and beyond."
There's plenty of time to sort things out, but it appears there will be a large group of teams in the NFC wild-card hunt for the foreseeable future. As things currently stand, there are seven teams not leading their divisions who are within one game in the loss column of one another in the NFC.
In the East, the loser of Sunday night's Cowboys-Eagles showdown will be 5-3, matching the New York Giants. In the North, the Packers and Bears are both 4-3. In the South, the Falcons are 4-3 and the Panthers 3-4, while in the West, the 49ers are 3-4.
But the only teams the Packers are concerned about right now are themselves and the Buccaneers. Last month, the Packers didn't look past the struggling Lions or Browns and handled them both by a combined score of 57-3.
It's been the same approach this week, albeit with two different factors. The Bucs have yet to win a game, and on a day they're wearing their "throwback" orange uniforms from the 1970s and '80s, they're likely to try just about anything in order to get a win.
Also, Tampa Bay is coming off its bye week and starting its new rookie quarterback, Josh Freeman, so there's little doubt first-year head coach Raheem Morris is selling the mentality that a whole new season starts for the Bucs on Sunday.
"It's kind of like a dog you've backed into a corner," guard Daryn Colledge said. "They've got nothing but fight in them and they want to get one, and this would be a great one for them.
"This is a game we're going to be extremely focused for. We're not going to take it lightly. These always seem to be the most dangerous games in the NFL. Especially with them having a week off, they'll have something exciting for us planned."
{sportsad300}Taking the lead of Head Coach Mike McCarthy, the Packers always divide their season into four quarters, and Sunday's game will mark the end of the second quarter.
But considering the team's current record and status within the NFC, it might as well be the start of the second half right now.
"We've lost some close games," Rodgers said. "In our three losses, we feel like we were in every one of them, had chances to win them, so that's disappointing. We haven't finished the deal yet. Other than the Cleveland game, we haven't played a consistent 60-minute game yet. That's been our focus this week.
"I don't care if you're playing a winless team at Tampa Bay or the Minnesota Vikings, it's going to take 60 minutes to beat your opponent, and we need to put together a 60-minute game this week."
And in the following weeks. After playing at Tampa, the Packers will play back-to-back home games against Dallas and San Francisco, two other NFC playoff contenders.
But whether or not the Packers go into those pivotal home games with an edge or an air of desperation will depend on this Sunday's outcome, so the objective all week has been clear.
"To not have a letdown and make sure we do what we need to do on our end to get a win on Sunday," receiver Greg Jennings said. "Bottom line, point blank. That's what we're going down there for, to get a win."
