GREEN BAY, Wis. -- If the Green Bay Packers want to fool themselves into thinking that the fresh start the playoffs provide will fix an unfixable offense, then their postseason could end with this Sunday’s NFC wild-card game at the Washington Redskins.

“It isn’t like we’re going to wipe away anything that happens in the past,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Monday as playoff week began. “To me, that would be a huge mistake.”

While McCarthy and offensive coordinator Edgar Bennett no doubt spent another Monday trying to unlock something that might jumpstart things for Aaron Rodgers and Co., it’s the coaches across the hall and the players in the defensive meeting room that probably will determine whether the Packers can get out of the first weekend.

Clay Matthews and the Packers allowed an average of 20.2 points per game, their fewest in five seasons. Adam Bettcher/Getty Images

There’s little doubt the Packers’ defense has made the kind of improvement that’s been necessary since it bottomed out in 2011. Just listen to Pro Bowl offensive guard Josh Sitton, who said he felt bad for the guys on defense because “they’re playing their ass off week in and week out, and we’re going out there and not doing our job.”

More than a handful of defensive players said they’re fine with taking on a bigger responsibility. Like Clay Matthews said before the season, the Packers’ offense has been carrying this team for years.

“The good teams, their defense carries them because everybody gets stingy in the playoffs,” cornerback Casey Hayward said. “Absolutely, we have to carry us. No matter if the offense is putting up 50 points or not, just go back to last year and watch all the playoff games, the good defensive teams made it farther.”

The Packers finished 15th in total defense, including sixth in fewest passing yards allowed, and ranked 12th in scoring defense. It was the highest rank against the pass since the Super Bowl season in 2010 and the fewest points allowed (20.2) since that same season. Dom Capers might have to find even more from his defense now.

While most remember how magnificent Rodgers performed in that 2010 playoff run, Capers hasn’t forgotten the kind of game-changing plays his unit made along the way.

There was Tramon Williams’ interception in the end zone in the final minute to seal the wild-card win at Philadelphia and his interception return for a touchdown a week later at Atlanta to blow open the divisional playoff game; B.J. Raji’s interception return for a touchdown at Chicago in the NFC title game; and Nick Collins’ interception return for a touchdown and Matthews’ forced fumble against Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl.

Although the Packers head into the playoffs on a two-game losing streak, Capers’ defense allowed just 24 of the 38 points in Week 16 at Arizona and 13 of the 20 points in the finale against the Vikings -- a game that could have swung in the Packers’ favor after Micah Hyde’s spectacular one-handed interception in the third quarter.

“I thought Micah Hyde’s interception was a rare play, the way he intercepted that ball,” Capers said. “Those are the kind of plays you have to make when you get into the playoffs. As we all know in this league, now you get down to 12 teams, everybody’s 0-0 and you’re going on the road and we’ll be playing in a hostile environment, you have to find a way to make two or three plays to get the momentum headed in your direction.”

At the same time, however, Capers doesn’t want his defensive players going to Washington thinking there’s a bigger burden on them.

“It's all about every phase of your team playing off the other phase,” Capers said. “You can't ever get concerned what somebody else is doing, because you do that, you'll fall off a cliff. And to me, that attitude, it's so important to your team. To me, you show the strength of your defense by going out in those tough situations and performing, going out and making plays, try to set up our offense to put them in great field position.”