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Ahman Green again couldn't celebrate a rushing record at the expense of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Green set a franchise playoff mark by running for 156 yards on 25 carries Sunday. But his failure to punch it in on fourth-and-goal from a foot out just before halftime ultimately led to Green Bay's 20-17 overtime loss.
In November, Green ran for a team-record 192 yards -- a mark he has since surpassed -- but fumbled twice in a 17-14 loss to the Eagles.
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He was flawless over his next nine games, including Sunday, going 246 touches
without putting the ball on the ground again. Tickets
But Green, the NFC's leading rusher, was stuffed on fourth-and-1 for just the second time in seven tries this season.
``It's tough when you feel like you push them around and then you don't get the victory,'' center Mike Flanagan said.
With just under two minutes left in the first half, defensive tackle Corey Simon got penetration on right tackle Mark Tauscher, and pulling guard Mike Wahle tripped over Tauscher.
Green then stumbled over Wahle and was smothered inches shy of the goal line by defensive end N.D. Kalu and linebacker Mark Simoneau, keeping the Eagles within a touchdown at 14-7 at halftime.
``When you can't get Ahman a yard, that tells you how the execution was,'' Flanagan said. ``Because Ahman can fall down and get a yard.''
The Packers knew they'd blown a golden chance to reach the NFC championship.
``We had a perfect opportunity, we would have gone up 14 there.'' Wahle said. ``That would have been a great answer because they just scored. We had a lot of things going for us right there. For some reason, we didn't make it work.
``We've been a real good red zone team as far as scoring touchdowns and two times we came out of there with no points or a field goal. If you want to look at something, why we lost the game, that might be it.''
Coach Mike Sherman said he didn't lose faith in his line after that, but declined to chance it on fourth-and-1 from the Eagles 41 with 2 1/2 minutes left and Green Bay clinging to a 17-14 lead.
``We didn't execute the first time (on fourth-and-1), so the confidence may not have been there,'' Flanagan suggested.
Quarterback Brett Favre tried to draw Philadelphia offsides with a hard cadence, then took a 5-yard delay of game penalty when the Eagles didn't budge. Josh Bidwell, mired in a slump for a month, booted the ball 46 yards for a touchback, however.
Still, the Packers appeared to have victory in their grasp and a date with Carolina for the conference championship when the Eagles found themselves facing fourth-and-26 from their own 26 with 1:12 remaining.
But Bhawoh Jue, who gave up the game-winning touchdown in the final minute against Philadelphia on Nov. 10, was beaten by Freddie Mitchell, who grabbed Donovan McNabb's 28-yard pass before slow-to-cover safeties Marques Anderson and Darren Sharper could get there.
``Any defense would love to be in the situation where it's fourth-and-26,'' Jue said. ``We had it, man.''
And they somehow let Mitchell get open.
``I mean, I was thinking Super Bowl, going to the NFC championship,'' said cornerback Mike McKenzie, who was critical of the zone coverage.
In overtime, defensive coordinator Ed Donatell went back to the blitz and the Packers forced a punt. The offense, which gained 381 yards in regulation, got the ball back at their 32.
But Green Bay, which had been playing elimination football since losing at Detroit on Thanksgiving, ran out of miracles.
Favre was blitzed and floated an ill-advised pass to Javon Walker that Brian Dawkins intercepted, leading to David Akers' winning field goal.
``You don't get opportunities like this all the time,'' Wahle said. ``This one hurts. I know how good we are, what an opportunity we had.''