The Boston Globe's Bob Hohler conducted a wide investigation into the Red Sox collapse. Here are highlights of his findings.

Pitchers John Lackey, Jon Lester, and Josh Beckett drank beer, ordered take-out chicken, and played video games during games.

Beckett, Lester, and Lackey, who were joined at times by Buchholz, began the practice of drinking beer in the clubhouse late in 2010.

Manager Terry Francona dealt with a variety of health and personal issues. He spent the year living out of a hotel after moving out of the home he shared with his wife of 30 years.

Team sources said Francona's use of pain medication may have hurt his performance. Francona vehemently denied the claims.

Players expressed anger at having to play a doubleheader on Aug. 27 because of Hurricane Irene’s approach the next day. The Red Sox won both games, but the players' anger lingered, management feared.

After the doubleheader incident, Red Sox officials gave every player a $300 set of headphones and threw a party for the players on team owner John Henry’s yacht. But the team's losing ways continued.

Veterans who no longer actively exerted their leadership included the captain, Jason Varitek, who was saddled with injuries and ineffective on the field (he batted .077 in September).

David Ortiz's most memorable act off the field was bursting into a Francona news conference to complain about a scorer's decision. He also questioned Francona's move of not making Alfredo Aceves a starter.

Tim Wakefield appeared more interested in himself than the team when he asserted that the Sox should bring him back in 2012 to pursue the franchise's all-time record for wins.

In the end, only Dustin Pedroia and a few other players appeared to remain fully committed to winning, according to team sources.

Sources said at least one top executive questioned signing Carl Crawford, claiming that his skills seemed to duplicate Jacoby Ellsbury's. Crawford ended up performing much worse than expected.