A month and a half ago, the Carolina Panthers played probably their worst game of the season, getting blown out 27-3 at NFC South Division rival Tampa Bay in Week 6.
But the Panthers rebounded quickly from that performance to drub another division rival, the New Orleans Saints, 30-7, the following week. That kicked off a four-game winning streak that now has the Panthers right in the thick of the hotly contested NFC South at 8-3.
That's exactly the type of recovery and subsequent roll the Packers need now, coming off their worst defeat of 2008 Monday night in New Orleans, a 51-29 blowout. The Panthers, who come to Lambeau Field on Sunday, aren't really interested in sharing any advice of course, but if nothing else, when the Packers watch film this week they'll be seeing a team that was able to put an absolutely forgettable performance behind it and get going again right away.
"There was no magic formula," Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme said. "We just went out, got our butt whupped, came back to work. We worked hard and played the Saints the next week and we played better.
"It wasn't anything we did different. The practice schedule was the same. It's just we executed better. That's kind of the simple formula. Just make a few more plays than the other team and you'll get a win."
The Packers got back to work with a late afternoon practice on Wednesday, which by all accounts was a solid workout. Head Coach Mike McCarthy said the team's practices and preparation have been sound the last month, but that hasn't always carried over to the games, and that's been the most frustrating part.
It was doubly frustrating on Monday night, when seemingly nothing went right the entire second half, which began with the Packers trailing by just three points. But the frustration can't be hauled around as baggage, especially during a short week like this one, and the players know it.
"The thing I learned in these 11 weeks are the weeks after a loss are the most difficult," quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. "But you really have to move on, move forward. Correct the things you did wrong, but really put that behind you. Because you can't carry any of that negativity, the negative thoughts. You just have to correct the things you did wrong and focus on the next opponent."
Perhaps unfortunately for the Packers, that opponent is looking for a bounce-back game of its own. Carolina's four-game winning streak was snapped last week in Atlanta, and the Panthers have yet to lose two straight games this season.
"The Packers had a disappointing loss, we had a disappointing loss, so this is going to be a big game for both of us," Carolina coach John Fox said.
At 8-3, the Panthers are in good shape to get at least a wild-card playoff spot, but their focus is on staying on top of their division to play in the postseason at home. The Panthers are 6-0 at home this season but only 2-3 on the road, and even though they're tied for first with the Buccaneers right now, everyone in the NFC South is above .500, with the last-place Saints at 6-5 and just two games out of first.
The Packers' task is a tough one. The NFC North as a whole has not fared well in its matchups this season with the NFC South, a division that collectively has 29 wins, just as many as the more highly touted NFC East.
Thus far, the NFC North is just 2-10 against the NFC South. Even if winless Detroit's results are removed, the Packers, Bears and Vikings are just 2-7, with Minnesota posting both wins (over Carolina and New Orleans).
But the Packers aren't concerning themselves with numbers, other than their one-game deficit in the NFC North and the five games remaining.
"We just have to go out there and keep working," defensive tackle Ryan Pickett said. "We can't give up. We have to come out and keep fighting. We had a good practice today, worked hard.
"We have to tighten up the little things. Little things are killing us. Missed assignments, mis-alignments. We're just trying to get more focused."
{sportsad300}Hopefully playing at home will help with that focus. The Packers have won their last two home games convincingly, by 20 points over Indianapolis and by 34 over Chicago, two teams above .500 and fighting for playoff position.
"The guys we've got in this locker room are a very high-character group, a lot of talent," Rodgers said. "We need to put together a five-game stretch of the kind of play that we put together against Chicago and Indianapolis, games we played the way we feel we're capable of playing. If we can do those things, then I feel like this is a team that can make a run."
The Packers are now entering their first and only stretch of back-to-back home games in 2008, and they need to take advantage. The Panthers certainly did, winning back-to-back home games after their bad loss to Tampa to kick-start their mid-season run.
For the Packers, it needs to be a late-season push, and it can't be put off any longer.
"We're a good team but we need to be a good team all the time, and it's not showing up," Pickett said. "One week we play good and one week we don't. We have to correct that. We're fortunate enough to be in a place where we still have time to correct it, but it has to be now."
