Packers coach Mike McCarthy and quarterback Aaron Rodgers went to the podium after their playoff loss to the Giants and offered no excuses, saying simply that the Giants played better than the Packers and deserved to win.
“We got beat by a team better tonight,” Rodgers said. “That’s the reality of this league. It’s tough. Didn’t think it was going to end tonight.”
The Packers didn’t look on Sunday evening like the same team we saw during the 2011 regular season, and as a result their season has come to an end, and McCarthy looked a little shocked -- and looked like he hadn’t quite digested what had just happened to his team.
“We didn’t play to our identity,” McCarthy said. “No excuses. We practiced well. I thought Wednesday’s practice was as good a practice as we’ve had. We had padded practices during the open week, padded practice this week. There was nothing in the preparation that led me to think this was going to occur today.”
Both McCarthy and Rodgers cited turnovers (the Packers had four, the Giants had one) as a major reason for the loss. And Rodgers said he was disappointed that the Packers turned in what may have been their worst game in their biggest game.
“This team, organization, fan base expects championships,” Rodgers said. “We had a championship-caliber regular season. We didn’t play well today.”