Another inside 50 deficit finally bit Essendon hard as Carlton upset the Bombers by 15 points in Sunday's sodden AFL match at the MCG.
While coach John Worsfold was disappointed, he was hardly surprised and said the match highlighted areas of concern for his team.
Essendon had lost the inside-50 count in their opening wins over Hawthorn and Brisbane, an unsustainable trend.
It went badly against them 60-37 on Sunday and while the game was close, the Blues mostly looked like the team more likely to win.
"There were no surprises in some of the things that happened today," Worsfold said
"They are areas that we know we have to get better at and it's going to (take) a bit of chemistry and more games together.
"We've got away with a couple of wins ... we got exposed (against Carlton).
"After eight or 10 rounds, we expect our chemistry will be a lot better and we'll get a lot better feel for how we're playing as a team."
While Essendon are defending well enough, they are not locking the ball inside their own forward 50m zone consistently.
That means the game is being played too much at the opposition's end of the ground.
"We're letting teams get it out (of our 50) too easily," he said.
"We're defending really well in our back 50, but we're giving them way too many entries.
"Really, the story of our year so far is that we're having to score by rebounding the ball the length of the ground too many times."
Worsfold also noted that Carlton used the ball better and Essendon were scrambling in the wet conditions.
"The energy and effort was pretty good, but we didn't adapt to aspects of the game - probably conditions as much as anything," he said.
And Essendon face an even bigger test next Saturday, with unbeaten Adelaide hosting them.
One positive for the Bombers is that ruckman Tom Bellchambers is over his knee injury and is regaining match fitness.
Meanwhile, the controversial free kick paid against Essendon defender James Kelly for deliberate out of bounds has created plenty of discussion.
Kelly booted the ball more than 50m out of defence, but the umpire penalised him - even though a Carlton player could easily have gained possession before the ball rolled across the boundary line.
Worsfold did not comment specifically on the Kelly incident, but said the rule needed some leeway, particularly given Sunday's atrocious conditions.
"It's pretty tough to say if a player is kicking for the boundary line or just trying to hit the ball with his boot," he said.
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