Apparently, the Packers Weren’t Paying Attention

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and that includes those who had Saturday night off in Philadelphia with television access to the Carolina-St. Louis playoff game.

Barely 24 hours after Mike Martz flinched at the Carolina 15-yard line, Mike Sherman lost his nerve at the Philadelphia 41 with his Green Bay Packers needing less than a yard to clinch a trip to the NFC final.

On Saturday, Mike of St. Louis played it safe, settled for a tie when victory was in his grasp, and wound up losing in overtime.

On Sunday, Mike of Green Bay played it safe, settled for a tie when victory was in his grasp, and wound up losing in overtime.

In fairness, Sherman had the tougher call. His Packers led, 17-14, facing fourth-and-a-couple-of-feet on the Eagle 41 with 2:38 to play. Green Bay had reached this point the old-fashioned way, shades of Taylor and Hornung, running the ball down the Eagles’ throat, to the right, to the left and, especially, up the middle.

Ahman Green already had rushed for 156 yards, a Packer postseason record.

As a team, the Packers already had gained 210 yards on the ground.

One more and Green Bay gets the first down, gets the chance to run out the clock and, most likely, books travel plans for an NFC championship game against Carolina.

Sherman thought about it. He weighed the pros and cons. Open one more hole in the Eagles’ fatigued defensive line and the game is probably over. But fall short and you give Philadelphia the ball on a short field, a couple of completions away from the potential tying field goal and a few more away from the go-ahead touchdown.

Sherman opted for a split decision. He sent his offense onto the field for fourth down and hoped the Eagles would jump offside.

When that didn’t happen, Green Bay took a five-yard penalty and punted, Josh Bidwell driving his kick into the end zone.

The Eagles took over on their 20, on their way to a tying field goal just before the end of regulation, followed by another on their second overtime possession.

Eagles 20, Packers 17.

Team McNabb advances to its third NFC final in three years.

Team of Destiny retreats to Wisconsin to review the Xs and O’s of divine intervention.

Lesson One: The ghost of Lombardi can lead the coach to water, but it can’t force him to take the plunge.

Lesson Two: When you have your opponent down to fourth and 26, don’t press your luck.

Shortly after Green Bay’s punt, Philadelphia was down to its last gasp -- fourth and 26 from the Eagle 26.

Incredibly, Green Bay left Freddie Mitchell uncovered over the middle, then hit the Eagle receiver right where he made the catch -- 28 yards from the line of scrimmage.

And that was the tale of two NFC semifinalists Sunday:

On fourth and one, the Packers went for the punt.

On fourth and 26, the Eagles went to Mitchell and got the first down.

Just like that, the Packers found themselves in worse circumstances than if they had gambled and failed on fourth and one.

And after that punt, Green Bay ran only one more offensive play -- a hurried, up-for-grabs pass by Brett Favre in overtime that Brian Dawkins easily intercepted and returned 35 yards to the Packer 34.

From there, an Eagle victory was only a matter of time and a 31-yard field goal by David Akers.

Earlier Sunday, Indianapolis completed a two-day, two-team siege of the state of Missouri, coming into Kansas City and wiping the Chiefs out of the tournament, 38-31. After St. Louis’ home loss to Carolina, the Show Me State has nothing to show for two home playoff games.

And before the divisional round of the playoffs, the Rams and the Chiefs had been undefeated at home, a combined 16-0. The Rams had a 14-game winning streak at home, the Chiefs 13.

Both streaks ended on the same weekend, by the unlikely combination of Jake Delhomme and Peyton Manning, who was winless and hopeless during the postseason, as you might have read, until a week ago.

Once 0-3 in playoff games, Manning is now 2-3, which doesn’t sound like much until you dig deeper into the box scores: In these last two victories over Denver and Kansas City, Manning has completed 44 of 56 passes for 681 yards, eight touchdowns, no interceptions and a quarterback rating of 156.9.

In the process, the Colts have outscored the two best teams in the AFC West, 79-41.

The road to 3-3, however, runs through New England, where the last seven teams to visit Gillette Stadium (the New York Giants, Cleveland, Dallas, Miami, Jacksonville, Buffalo, Tennessee) combined to score 36 points -- or two fewer points than the Colts managed in Kansas City.

Both conference finals are rematches of games played on Nov. 30. On that day, Philadelphia won at Carolina, 25-16, when Panther kicker John Kasay missed three field-goal attempts and an extra-point try, and New England won at Indianapolis, 38-34, when the Colts failed to score on four tries inside the Patriot three-yard line.

Do the Panthers and the Colts have what it takes to avenge those defeats on the road?

Well, they have game films. They have some time. And they know what happens when old mistakes are repeated.