Sometimes an under-fire team has no option but to win.
That moment can come at any time during a season; for Carlton, that moment came in Round 23 against Collingwood - the Blues had no option - win or go home.
They went home in the most heartbreaking fashion.
It might be only Round 3, but Luke Beveridge and the Western Bulldogs have to win tomorrow night against Brisbane.
It's been a disastrous start for the team that many fancied as a premiership shot in the pre-season.
In Round 1, they copped a 50-point hiding to Melbourne, who were without key players Steven May, Jack Viney, Bayley Frisch and Christian Salem. The Dogs kicked just nine goals.
It got worse in Round 2 with a 51-point loss to an undermanned St Kilda side that sticky-taped a forward line together. The Dogs managed just five goals.
After Brisbane, Richmond, Port in Adelaide and Fremantle in Perth await.
As Champion Data's Daniel Hoyne explained to us last night on Sportsday, there are spot fires everywhere for Beveridge and his team.
"Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, they've got concerns across multiple areas," Hoyne told SEN Sportsday.
"Realistically, when you've got concerns in multiple areas, it's not going to be a one, two, three-week fix.
"What do you fix first? Do you go back to getting your one wood, which is your contest and clearance game back to top three or top two in the competition?
"Do you worry about getting your transition game? Which has been quite strong for a number of years which is now 17th in the competition.
"Do you worry about defending transition? Which has more often than not been a concern for them and they're 17th in the competition (at it).
"When you're having those conversations, I imagine that's one giant headache in terms of where to start first."
With so much going wrong, four-time premiership skipper Marcus Bontempelli admitted that they must narrow the focus.
"I think we need to strip things back," Bontempelli said.
"That's to a couple of key aspects to the game that are super important, really hone in on that and build from there.
"I don't think you can fix everything all at once, it needs to be a really simple focus with the contest, basic sort of skills and fundamentals.
"We've got a really skilful team, I think we just need to get back to those things and let the more systematic things about our game flow from there."
Added to the club's woes are the queries regarding the team fitness and pre-season program, which former player Josh Dunkley highlighted in the pre-season and Beveridge acknowledged post-game on Saturday night.
The Bulldogs' opposition knows they can score heavily in a short time - since 2021, the Dogs have conceded four or more goals in a row 26 times. Only North, Adelaide and West Coast ranked worse in that category.
Brisbane can put this game to bed early if the Dogs arrive with the same mindset as the last fortnight.
Despite all the troubles, the Dogs have stars on every line: Marcus Bontempelli, Jack Macrae, 'Libba' (Tom Liberatore), and Bailey Smith in the midfield.
All Australians Bailey Dale and Caleb Daniel across half-back.
Aaron Naughton is a top-five key forward.
In The Age last week, I said Beveridge is driving a Mercedes full with high octane fuel, but the GPS is broken.
Beveridge spoke to the media today and he's remaining calm.
"As much as it's surprised us to a significant degree, we've been here before," Beveridge said.
"We've had a little trough and then come out of it pretty quickly.
"I'm really confident that's going to happen."
Let's see if the mechanics were down at the Whitten Oval this week to fix the busted GPS system.
Sometimes you have to find a way to win.