Midnight will ultimately strike on the Crew's improbable playoff chances. A stretch in which the team lost 13 of 15 ultimately made the odds too long.

Frustratingly for the Crew, what has separated an improbable run from a likely one has been mere minutes.

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The Crew allowed a goal in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time Saturday in a 1-1 draw against the Chicago Fire after leading for more than 60 minutes. It was the third straight home game in which the Crew settled for a tie instead of winning when it was either ahead in the final minutes or had plenty of chances to find the game-winner late.

Couple that with a home game against Seattle that it lost in stoppage time and an 89th-minute goal allowed in a 3-2 loss at Colorado in May, and the Crew would have 39 points instead of 31 and be sitting in the final playoff spot with four games to play if it had managed the latter stages of games better.

There are many ways to play “what if,” but the Crew’s lack of resolve at the end of games has significantly contributed to its undoing.

“I think when you look at the last three home games in particular, those were all games where, if we just make a play — one more play — a few better decisions, and we have a stronger personality, psychology and mentality of how we go about things,” Crew coach Caleb Porter said, “then we're in a really good position.”

The Crew has lost one of its past nine games. It has pulled off impressive results at San Jose and at the New York Red Bulls, and it has scored 16 goals in that span. But some of those games — mainly at home against Cincinnati, Toronto and Chicago — should have been wins.

In all of those games, the Crew left the door open because it couldn’t finish its chances.

“I believe it's mental because we play to don't concede, and we are afraid to concede the goal,” midfielder Pedro Santos said. “So when we play like this, we give power for the other team.”

When looking at the entirety of the season, five games can't be blamed. The Crew's three-month stretch of poor play is the culprit that will leave it not among the 14 teams out of 24 in MLS to make the postseason. Then there are the injuries that have forced Porter to roll out 16 defensive combinations.

But the nine-game stretch, even with plenty of players still on the injury report, has been good compared with the rest of the season — just not great. Porter said his club has to have the mentality to finish games the right way, and that can come only through game experience.

In 2018, the Crew won four games and tied another one with goals scored in the 80th minute or later, and the team saw the difference those points made, earning a playoff berth by five points.

“I think it's improving, and I think it is coming,” Porter said. “It really is. It's just disappointing that it didn't come last game and didn't come the Toronto game.”

jmyers@dispatch.com

@Jacob_Myers_25