I am often given the mantle of being the "negative Packer blogger", a title I accept, if I must.  As a die-hard Packer fan, I do realize that as an analyst, you have to be...well, analytical.  Sometimes, such observations don't always shine with the green-and-gold luster that we would expect anything written about a 13-0 team to have.

But my latest "negative" analysis has led me to the following concern: the Packers are getting dangerously close to stretching their injury safety net too far, just in time for the playoffs.  What do I mean by that?  Simply put, the Packers' injuries are mounting, and these injuries just might be the ones the make the Packers mortal at the most inopportune time.

Now, let me be perfectly (and glowingly honest): the Packers have dealt with a rash of injuries over the last two seasons that would have crushed any other normal NFL team.  The Packers have been the exception to the rule.  Injuries have derailed far more campaigns than aided them...a posit you could actually make in the Packers' favor in the 2010 championship season.

But you never hear a coach for any team say something to the effect of, "We'll have a chance to contend if we stay focused and lose 20% of our starters to injury."  It doesn't happen.  But injuries to key players have befallen the Packers since September of  '10, and for some odd reason...even in defiance of logic...it hasn't seemed to slow them down.

There are three reasons that I attribute to the success of the Packers to persevere beyond their injuries:

1) The deft drafting and roster-building of Ted Thompson.  He has players in mind that he wants on this team, and he is willing to wheel-and-deal on draft day to get them.  The result has been rosters of players that are built for the system he has envisioned from the start.  When a player has gone down, another player has been waiting in the wings with a skill set appropriate for the position he's stepping into.

2) The mental fortitude of Mike McCarthy, who has coached this group of players into a team-first attitude that doesn't tolerate fools or me-first antics.  Many times in Packer (and NFL) history, campaigns were completely derailed because of an over-dependence on one player (see: Peyton Manning), but that doesn't happen under McCarthy's watch.  He has always...always...taken the hand he's been dealt and spits-and-wires it together, and expects nothing less from the next man up.

3)  A little bit of good fortune.  In 2010, the players lost to injury were, for the lack of a better term, expendable.  Okay, that is a little harsh, but let's face it:  the loss of Nick Barnett and Morgan Burnett were survivable, not only because there might have been a more talented (and hungry) player on the bench (see: Desmond Bishop), but because solid veterans were alongside the backups (see: AJ Hawk and Nick Collins).  The losses of Ryan Grant and Jermichael Finley on offense simply led to the Packers becoming a more pass-heavy team that relied on their wide receivers and less on the run game.  In other words, the injuries actually forced the offense to play to their strength: Aaron Rodgers.

But this season, despite the record, the injuries have had more of an impact, particularly on the 31st-ranked defense, which relies even more on turnovers to keep opponents out of the red zone.  The loss of Cullen Jenkins, though unavoidable, has created a void on the defensive line that, quite simply, Jarius Wynn and Mike Neal haven't come close to filling, and has diminished the impact of Ryan Pickett and BJ Raji.

More obvious has been the loss of safety Nick Collins.  While Charlie Peprah did an admirable job filling in opposite Collins last year, the veteran's savvy sure helped him out.  Just watching the safeties flail around as Travis Beckum simply changed direction on the way into the end zone reminded us just how much we miss Collins in the backfield.

And with the loss of both interior linebackers against the Giants, you saw their backups were not quite ready for prime time yet.  While I've been critical of Bishop and Hawk this year for leaving the middle of the field open too much this season, the Giants offensive production made both veterans conspicuous by their absence.

At this point, you might be asking, "So, what's your point?!  Just because we had an 'almost-loss' last Sunday, the world is falling apart? Did Chicken Littles like you know how much we would have killed for an 'almost-loss' in the seventies and eighties?"

Actually, I did live through both of those decades, and remember those teams (and records) well.  And as long as those first two reasons I posited earlier remain in place, the Packers are going to remain competitive (and likely winning) through the rest of the regular season.  Thompson and McCarthy mean that much.

But, I also believe, wholeheartedly, that Aaron Rodgers has willed this team to many of its victories this season.  It's not like 2010, when the offense often turned the game over to the defense and prayed they'd pull out some miracle turnover to end the game.  No, it's been Rodgers building up leads, and like last week, adding to leads late in the game to stave off a comeback.

For all of a certain ESPN pundit's criticism of Tim Tebow being superior than Rodgers, claiming that the youngster is able to pull out come-from-behind wins from his golden ass, the simple truth is that Rodgers never has to come from behind.  He never gives the other team a chance to mount a lead against him.

Which is why it is monumental to keep Rodgers upright and healthy.  Yes, the defense, for all its warts this season, has done just well enough to keep Rodgers from having to play safety, too.  But the continued absence of Desmond Bishop and the tenuous status of concussed cornerback Charles Woodson (as well as the Packers committal to non-performing Mike Neal) diminishes the defense's impact even more.

No, more concerning are the losses on offense.  Already, the losses of Josh Sitton and Chad Clifton have made the Packers rely on Evan Dietrich-Smith and Marshall Newhouse, both of whom have to be described as inconsistent, at best.  And unfortunately, both are apparently better than first-round pick Derek Sherrod, so that let's you know where the cupboard is along the offensive line.  The continued absence of James Starks is also concerning, as he really had been coming into his own as a yard- and clock-eater late in games, something the Packers really needed last Sunday.

More importantly might be the loss of TE Andrew Quarless, who may have been quiet most of the season, but was the de facto #2 tight end and a key blocker in the run game.  While the Packers have Tom Crabtree, a good blocker himself, on reserve, the number of people available to keep the pressure off of Rodgers is growing.

Simply put, there isn't a player in the NFL right now more important to their team than Aaron Rodgers.  That honor might have gone to Manning at some point, but Rodgers is now the man.  The Packers can absorb injury after injury and seemingly defy logic as they work their way towards their destiny in the regular season.  But the key to a Super Bowl win depends on the Discount Double Check of #12.

The Packers need to figure out how to keep defenders out of the backfield, and preferably, how to keep Rodgers back there.   The Giants generated two sacks and kept Rodgers on edge most of the game with plenty of pressures and hits.  Moreover, he was the Packers' leading rusher with 32 yards on 4 scrambles.  For a quarterback who missed a start last season after two concussions, keeping Aaron's bell from ringing as we get closer to the postseason is critical for the Packers.

There's nothing Packer fans want more than another Super Bowl trophy, and nothing this coaching staff and team deserves any less than after two seasons of triumph through adversity.  But as the Packers struggled against a mediocre Giant team vying for a wild card, the Packers need to, once again, adapt their backups to protect our most important asset.

And maybe, just maybe, I'm worrying too much.  You know, being negative.  But you can't look at an "almost loss" and not come away with some yellow or red flags.  I know that Mike McCarthy and his coaching staff never settle for "good enough", and while we celebrate our great team and their accomplishments, we know they have some warts that need to be remedied before we hit the playoff season.

And as these injuries mount, our fortune may run out at the most inopportune time.  That's why it's important to learn from your "almost losses" in the regular season, so they don't become a "just barely loss" in the postseason.