Wales coach Warren Gatland said his side had "pushed the self-destruct button" after their 26-20 Six Nations loss to France at the Millennium Stadium on Friday.
Victory left France on course for a Grand Slam but Gatland insisted they had done little to deserve their latest win.
France were a commanding 20-0 up at half-time after intercepted passes from Wales centre James Hook and wing star Shane Williams led to tries for France flyer Alexis Palisson and outside-half Francois Trinh-Duc.
Those were the only tries France scored, however, and Wales, just as they'd done in coming from behind to beat Scotland, rallied in spectacular style thanks to scores from wings Leigh Halfpenny and Shane Williams.
But with France scrum-half Morgan Parra kicking three penalties and replacement back Frederic Michalak adding one of his own, Wales were unable to pull off a second straight great escape despite leaving Marc Lievremont's men reeling at the finish and threatening to raise the stadium's closed roof.
"There was only one team trying to play rugby out there but we have to learn to stop pushing the self-destruct button," Gatland said.
"We got punished with two interception tries and left ourselves with too much to do. We could have thrown in the towel but we showed fantastic character and put ourselves in a position to win the game."
The New Zealander said that France, with both of their remaining games in Paris, against Italy and England, were favourites for the Grand Slam but was grudging in his assessment of their performance.
"I think France will win the grand slam but we were the architects of our own demise.
"At no stage did I feel we were under pressure from France, we weren't stressed by France, in terms of them running the ball," the former Ireland and Wasps boss said.
"If we can stop being our own worst enemies, our own victims, and we get it right, I think we are not far away from being a very, very good side."
Williams, celebrating his 33rd birthday on Friday, took little plesure in becoming the first player to score 50 tries for Wales, the flyer reaching the landmark with a typical jinking run.
"Scoring tries like that is great but the only thing that mattered was the result," the wing said.
Unlike in the Scotland match, France didn't give Wales the chance of a stoppage-time score with Michalak kicking the ball dead from the re-start following Williams's sensational try.
"If they'd kicked the ball back to us at the end, we might have had another amazing win," said Williams.
"There was a bit of deja vu, from our previous two games," added Williams as he reflected on a tournament which started for Wales with a 30-17 loss away to England at Twickenham.
"One of the interceptions was my fault but you saw the character and the skill in the squad from the way we came back again," Williams added.
Defeat though left Wales fourth in the table and all but out of contention for the title ahead of their matches away to defending champions Ireland and at home to Italy.
"We played rugby for 30 minutes in a period of 80," said downbeat Wales captain Ryan Jones.
"One thing you can't question is the heart and soul of this team," the No 8 added.
"But we've got to start better and start squeezing teams."
Wales defence coach Shaun Edwards said: "To keep France to no offensive tries was a great effort.
"But there's no doubt people are doing their homework on us and have seen they can get intercepts because over 30 percent of our tries conceded in the last 18 months have come from intercepts."
Wales attack coach Rob Howley was in no doubt where blame lay for this defeat.
"We've got one of the best defence coaches in world rugby and we let him down today," the former Wales scrum-half said.
"If we hadn't have given those two balls away, we'd have won that game."
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