There was still time.
Those were Quintin Mikell's words in early December about the problem that wouldn't go away, the continuing Eagles' failure to stop anybody in the red zone. "We've still got a lot of time left," Mikell said back then.
Sunday night, Mikell had an update: "It came back to bite us."
It should be news to no one after Sunday's 21-16 loss to Green Bay in an NFC first-round playoff game at Lincoln Financial Field that the Eagles had the worst red-zone defense in the NFL this year - allowing opponents to score at a historically easy rate, on 97.7 percent of their possessions on either a touchdown or a field goal.
On Sunday, the Packers stuck to the touchdowns. Of 43 opposing trips past the 20 this season, the Eagles had allowed 33 TDS. On this day, the Packers were 3 for 3.
"I'm not going to point to anything right now," Eagles coach Andy Reid said of the red-zone failures. "That will be one of our off-season projects, obviously."
Adding to the Eagles' frustration, the Packers didn't always have to get to the red zone. On Green Bay's first scoring drive, rookie backup linebacker Keenan Clayton was offside on a third-down play, negating a rare Aaron Rodgers third-down incompletion. Six plays later, the Packers were in the end zone.
"It was funny because I scored, and the crowd just did nothing," said Packers tight end Tom Crabtree, who chose that drive for his first career touchdown catch, and just his fifth career catch.
On Green Bay's next possession, Rodgers eluded Juqua Parker, in on him alone, and converted a third and 2, one of three third-down conversions on the drive.
As much as the red-zone failures, third down was the story of this game for the Eagles' defense. In the first half, Green Bay was 5 for 6 on third down, then converted two more on its third scoring drive in the third quarter.
"We've got to get off the field," Trent Cole kept repeating in the Eagles' locker room.
Nobody in that locker room was ready with more specific explanations. Asante Samuel acknowledged being surprised by how much the Packers ran the ball early in the game. Mikell said, "I feel like we need more game experience."
He didn't point out that two seventh-round draft choices, one this year and one from last, started at linebacker. The truth is, whatever experience the Eagles put out there at that position in 2010, red-zone problems persisted.
The Eagles also acknowledged that Rodgers is hard to pin down. "They gave us a little different looks than we expected," said Eagles linebacker Ernie Sims.