With talent spread as thin as it is in the NFL, it's virtually impossible to win if you give a team a distinct advantage.  But that's exactly what the Packers did against Carolina.  At 9-3 and tied for the NFC South lead Carolina is in the thick of the playoff race.  The Packers are 5-7 and rapidly fading from contention but talent-wise the Packers stack up well with Carolina.  Thanks to a lack of special teams effort the Panthers played on a short field most of the day and without the ability to make a stop on defense, the Packers simply couldn't outduel Carolina.

Carolina's longest scoring drive was 55 yards and only twice were the Panthers forced to start at their own 20.  Meanwhile, the Packers began drives at or inside their own 20 six times.  To their credit, the Packers were able to build offensive momentum with a number of lengthy drives but with a weak pass rush and a banged up secondary, the Packers simply don't have the means to stop a team like Carolina, especially when the Panthers got great field position all game long.  Unless you have the best defense in the NFL, you'll eventually give away easy points if you let the opponent start at their own 40. 

Like most games, there wasn't a particular play that made the difference but instead a series of plays.  Despite the field position and a number of big plays by Carolina, the Packers had the chance to win the game in the final minutes.  The Packers had three chances to go up by seven late in the game but instead came away with a field goal.  DeAngelo Williams scored four times from a yard out.  The Panthers are a tough, physical team, the kind the Packers have struggled with throughout the season and when it was imperative to get that final yard the Packers couldn't do it.  With a 31-28 lead, the Packers gave up another big return, setting up Steve Smith's back-breaking catch.

Now the Packers are two games behind Minnesota with a month left in the season.  There's an outside shot at winning the division but since beating Indianapolis the Packers have put up only one complete effort.  After putting up big numbers in a losing effort against New Orleans and Carolina, it's clear the Packers will need more than just offense to get back to the playoffs.

It's fitting that the Packers face Minnesota to open the second half of the season.  The two teams met on a Monday night in Week One when nobody was really sure how Aaron Rodgers would handle the pressure of replacing Brett Favre against a team many thought had enough pieces in place to get to the Super Bowl.  Well, Rodgers handled the pressure of both the moment and the Vikings well.  Meanwhile, Minnesota has looked anything but super.

But clearly the biggest difference this time around isn't the quarterback change the Packers made but rather the quarterback change the Vikings made.  It seemed like everyone I talked to didn't see what the Vikings saw in Tarvaris Jackson.  He was just too raw and too inaccurate to be a good NFL quarterback.  After two starts, Jackson was replaced by Gus Frerotte, who certainly isn't part of the Manning family tree in terms of ability, but Minnesota is 4-2 since the change.  With Frerotte the Vikings have more balance and are a threat to throw downfield.  This has opened things up for Adrian Peterson.  While Peterson has piled up yardage over the last month, Frerotte has been steady.  He only threw for 182 yards in a win against Houston but he did put up three touchdowns.

The big key today will be forcing Frerotte to throw.  You can expect Peterson to get around 25 carries but in the two losses since Frerotte took over, he threw it 83 times and was picked off five times.  There's no doubt Frerotte is a better quarterback than Jackson but if the Vikings have to lean heavily on Frerotte it well set up the Packers well for a win today.  Frerotte can manage the game and will make a few big plays but he won't be able to win a game on his own.

Coming off a bye the 4-3 Packers take on the lone unbeaten team in the NFL, the Tennessee Titans.  How will the Packers hand the Titans the first "L" of the season.  Here are three things that need to happen:

1. Take away opportunities.  I'm talking about both taking away opportunities and takeaways.  The Packers lead the NFL in interceptions and forcing Tennessee into mistakes will go a long way.  However, Tennessee is a very opportunistic team so the Packers can't give Tennessee any breathing room.  One missed tackle and either Chris Johnson or LenDale White can rip off a big gain.  One mismatch in the secondary and the Titans will attack with two good pass catching tight ends.  One turnover and Tennessee will turn it into points as they did Monday night to put away Indianapolis.

2. Be physical.  Coming off a hard-fought win against the Colts the Titans are on a short week while the Packers are rested.  Tennessee eventually wore down Indianapolis but the Colts took a lot out of Tennessee in the process.  Ryan Grant is just starting to get warm and another 25-30 carries today might be enough to get the win.

3. Quarterback is still the most important position.  The Titans have a great defense and love to run the football but can quarterback Kerry Collins win games for Tennessee?  Forget about 300 yards, Collins has yet to throw for 200 yards in a game this year.  Forcing Tennessee to throw the ball is easier said than done but if Johnson and White aren't effective the Titans will be in trouble.

If Aaron Rodgers is going to have the "injury-prone" label then it also has to be said that he is one tough player.  Rodgers gutted his way through a 313 yard, three touchdown performance against the Atlanta Falcons but that wasn't enough to stop the Falcons from nabbing a 27-24 win at Lambeau Field.  Rodgers certainly did his part and it was nice to see signs of life from the ground game but penalties and other miscues did in the Packers today.

The most frustrating thing to take away from the loss was the inability to get the defense off the field.  On Atlanta's first drive the Falcons converted a third-and-six and also scored on a fourth-and-goal from the one.  Then in the second quarter it looked like the Packers made a stop but Patrick Lee was flagged for a very weak pass interference penalty.  Despite that, the Packers had Atlanta in a third-and-ten later in the drive and let the Falcons convert on a 26 yard pass play.  And of course, with less than two minutes left the Packers had one last chance to stop Atlanta on thirds-and-one and instead gave up a two yard gain to Michael Turner.

Penalties were also frustrating.  Aside from Lee's penalty, the Packers were flagged eight other times for 97 yards.  That's a lot to give up to a team like Atlanta.  Despite the 3-2 record, the Falcons are not among the NFC's better teams, at least not yet anyway.  While you can't give up penalty yardage like that, you certainly cannot give up big plays.  Turner racked up 121 yards on the ground and Roddy White notched eight catches for 132 yards in the first half alone (though it should be noted White was held without a catch in the second half.)

All those miscues covered up what was a very good day for Rodgers and Ryan Grant showed flashes of his old self with 83 yards on the ground.  The Packers ran only six plays in the first quarter and did not register a first down but the offense settled in and showed some rhythm on a number of drives.  However, when plays were needed to be made in the fourth quarter, Atlanta made them and the Packers didn't.  With a 17-all score the Falcons executed on special teams with a big kickoff return and a Jason Elam field goal.  Then Atlanta forced a critical turnover and from there Turner took over.  The lethal combination of penalties, miscues and a lack of execution when it was needed most took away from the gritty performance of Rodgers.