It's "Groundhog Day" seemingly every Sunday or Monday for the Packers.

Close game. Take the lead. Give it up. Fail to close the deal when given the opportunity at the end.

It's enough to make their fans angry. Police around Wisconsin should be on alert Sunday and Monday nights for the deranged green-and-gold colored people walking aimlessly on the streets mumbling to themselves about coach Mike McCarthy, general manager Ted Thompson, quarterback Aaron Rodgers, defensive coordinator Bob Sanders, special teams coach Mike Stock . . . or all of the above.

The Packers are Charlie Brown with a Football helmet.

Forget the team record for losses by four points or fewer in a season, set by the 1991 team with six. The Packers dusted that mark with unlucky No. 7 thanks to their 20-17 overtime loss to the Chicago Bears on Monday night.

That defeat put the Packers among the worst teams in National Football League history when it comes to close losses.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only one other team - the 1984 Cleveland Browns - had more losses by four points or fewer than the current Packers. They had eight in a 5-11 campaign that saw coach Sam Rutigliano replaced by Marty Schottenheimer after a 1-7 start.

With one game to play, the Packers are tied with three other teams with seven losses by four points or fewer in a season: the 2001 Carolina Panthers, 1994 Houston Oilers and '93 New England Patriots.

McCarthy doesn't think the Packers are choking in the biggest moments.

"I do not see pressure as a problem for our Football team in the fourth quarter," McCarthy said Tuesday.

Each Football game has a handful of game-deciding plays and for whatever reason - take your pick, there are plenty to choose from - the Packers just aren't getting it done.

"It's not just the defense is not doing this or the offense is not doing that," McCarthy said. "It's a team game, and we've had a number of opportunities throughout the game. There's plays in the third quarter, frankly, that you can look at and say, 'Boy, that had a very big impact on the game.' "

McCarthy pointed to the opening possession of the second half Monday, when the Packers held the Bears without a first down and forced them to punt. On the punt, however, Packers cornerback Jarrett Bush was blocked into the bounding ball. It went off his leg, the Bears recovered and five plays later Chicago scored a touchdown to pull within 14-10.

OK, so maybe Lucy isn't taking the ball away from the Packers at the last second. She's bouncing it off their leg on a punt.

"It's a nightmare, you know?" safety Nick Collins said after the game. "Every game we've been in. We're just not closing."

This season, once so full of promise after a 2-0 start, has become a horror show.

But it has to come to an end, right? The Packers surely will learn from all these close games and put the knowledge to good use next season, won't they?

If history is any predictor, don't bet on it.

The four other teams the Packers are grouped with for close-game futility improved a collective 19 games the next season (13-51 to 32-32) but only one posted a winning record. The '93 Patriots were 5-11 in Bill Parcells' first season as coach and went 10-6 the next to make the playoffs as a wild-card entry.

But it didn't come easy. The Patriots continued to be the heartbreak kids by losing their first two games by four and three points - behind quarterback Drew Bledsoe, who was starting his second season - and starting 3-6. However, they found ways to win close games against Cincinnati (31-28) and the Packers (17-16) to help set the stage for a season-ending, seven-game winning streak.

But the Patriots are the exception, not the rule.

The Browns went from 5-11 to 8-8, the Panthers from 1-15 to 7-9 and the Oilers were 7-9 after being 2-14. Even the Packers improved from 4-12 in '91 to 9-7 the next season under new coach Mike Holmgren.

Incidentally, Parcells was the only coach to survive a season of close losses.

McCarthy isn't likely to be going anywhere after the season except to the chalkboard to try to get his team righted. He'll point to the Patriots and even the Packers under Holmgren. But in most cases, teams that can't close the deal one year don't suddenly do it the next.

If that happens, it will once again be "Groundhog Day" for the Packers. And it will most certainly not be a comedy by any stretch of the imagination.

BETTER NEXT YEAR?

The Packers have seven losses by four points or fewer this season. That is tied with three other teams for second-most in league history since the 1970 merger, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The '84 Cleveland Browns have the record with eight such losses. How all those teams fared the next season:

No. Team Year W-L Next

8 Cleveland Browns 1984 5-11 8-8

7 Carolina Panthers 2001 1-15 7-9

7 Houston Oilers 1994 2-14 7-9

7 New England Patriots 1993 5-11 *10-6

7 Green Bay Packers 2008 5-10 TBD

S* Made playoffs

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