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• Big plays, bad special teams jeopardize Packer playoff hopes
• UW-River Falls announces plans to cut costs

By Wheeler News Service & RiverTown Newspaper Group

The Green Bay Packers are close to snuffing out their playoff chances, after losing to Carolina 35-31 at Lambeau Field Sunday.

Minnesota crushed Chicago 34-14 Sunday night and that put the Vikings in first place in the NFC North Division by a game over the Bears and two over the Packers with four left.

Also, Green Bay is 12th among the 16 NFC teams with a record of 5-7 and their only playoff hope is to win a division that appears to be slipping away.

"We need to win a game right now. We need to win a game and then worry about the next one. We can't think outside of that. We're making common mistakes and we as a coaching staff need to get it corrected," said Packers' Head Coach Mike McCarthy after the loss.

The Packers overcame an 11-point halftime deficit Sunday to take an early fourth-quarter lead, just before it started snowing.

They were up by three with just under two minutes to go when Steve Smith caught a 54-yard pass from Jake Delhomme to put Carolina at the Green Bay one.

"It was a fantastic play, and he wants to be in those situations," said Delhomme.

Then DeAngelo Williams scored his fourth rushing touchdown of the day to improve the Panthers' record to 9-3.

Green Bay attempted a comeback, but it failed when Aaron Rodgers threw an interception.

Green Bay had a huge edge in total yards, 438-300, but special teams did the Pack in. Carolina's Mark Jones averaged 39 yards on four kickoff returns, as the Panthers' average drive started on their 40-yard line.

"It's two weeks in a row we're playing on a football field that's 200 yards longer than our opponent. It's tough to overcome that. I thought that was a huge factor," McCarthy said.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers told reporters that the team hasn't executed in crunch time like they should and Sunday's loss was just another example of that.

"We had almost 450 yards today and to lose like that is pretty disappointing," he said.

It was the Packers' fourth loss this season by four points or fewer. Green Bay will host the Houston Texans next Sunday.

Packers' center Scott Wells suffered an apparent concussion just before halftime. Running back Ryan Grant aggravated a thumb injury. Safety Atari Bigby left with a bruised shoulder and defensive lineman Jeremy Thompson sprained an ankle.

Grant had 12 carries for 39 yards before he left. Brandon Jackson broke a 32-yarder, and had 80 yards on 11 carries for the day.

Greg Jennings was the Pack's leading receiver with eight catches for 91 yards and a touchdown and he passed the 1,000-yard mark in receiving yards for the first time in his three-year career.

Rodgers completed 29-45 passes for 298 yards and three touchdowns. The others went to Donald Driver and Donald Lee.

Officials from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls announced today (Monday) several steps that will be taken to reduce costs at the university.

The move comes following an announcement in November that the state was facing a $5.4 billion budget shortfall in the coming 2009-11 biennial budget.

On Friday, the UW System President, Kevin Reilly announced that he will ask the UW System Board of Regents to approve a plan that holds academic staff and faculty pay increases to just 2.5 percent over the course of the budget --half of what was originally planned.

Campus officials say the following measures will be taken:

* Requests to fill all open positions will be carefully reviewed and approved by the Chancellor; the search for a new Chancellor, Provost, and Dean of CBE will continue.

* Out-of-state travel must be reviewed by department chairs or supervisors based upon the degree to which the travel is part of essential job functions and the availability of cost effective alternatives.

* All staff are being asked to review and carefully monitor all supplies and equipment purchases.

* Ways to utilize revenues from existing sources and new revenue sources are being explored.