Say what you want about Metro teams from 2003 to 2007, but at least they made the playoffs. Sure, it was all downhill from there, but at least they gave the fans the thrills of memorable late-season playoff clinches.

It looks like they'll need another memorable clinch in 2008. For the playoff spot, which seemed all but certain three weeks ago, is now in danger of collapsing quicker than you can say "Juan Carlos Osorio".

Three games, three losses, eleven goals allowed. Two of those losses coming at home to teams who poor (to put it mildly) road records. Defensive mistake after defensive mistake after defensive mistake.

Yet somehow, Metro still sits first in the wild card chase. The margin for error has been greatly reduced, however. They are tied with Salt Lake on 35 points, with a crucial game between the two this Thursday. Colorado and Dallas are both at 34. DC and Kansas City are at 33. And at least two of the six will not make the playoffs.

And looking at the schedule, it does not get easier. Salt Lake will be pumped up for the first game in their brand new stadium. The lone home game is against Columbus, the best team in the league. And the regular season finale is in Chicago, which has beaten Metro twice already this season, and would love nothing more than to stick it to Osorio once again.

We've been through this before, of course, with different outcomes. In 2005, with three games left in the season, Bob Bradley was fired after two straight losses (never mind the fact that the Metros did not lose in five straight prior to that point), and Mo Johnston led the team to a 2-0-1 record, beating DC on the road and then shutting out Chivas USA to claim a playoff berth on the last day of the regular season. In 2006, Bruce Arena led the team to a similar 2-0-1 record in the last three, with Amado Guevara's hat trick in the season finale pushing Metro over Kansas City and into the playoffs.

And then there was 2002, the last year Metro missed out. That season, the East was much weaker than the West, and Metro was hovering near the top of the conference with a 11-12-2 record. They needed a point to clinch a playoff berth; they would lose to a terrible DC team at home, 1:0, on the road, 2:1, and then at New England, 3:0. The Revs rose from the ashes to claim the East with a sub-.500 record and deny Metro the playoffs. A memorable collapse, to say the least. Octavio Zambrano was fired soon after.

So will the end of this, the 2008 season, be another miracle collapse or another miracle clinch? It can't help but fall into one of the two categories.