The Green Bay Packers expected to be preparing for the NFC Championship Game today. Instead they’re cleaning out their lockers. And there’s a sense of shock inside the locker room about that.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel quotes several players who sounded stunned today, speaking less than 24 hours after they lost to the Giants on Sunday evening.
Said linebacker Desmond Bishop, “Has it soaked in? I think so. I don’t even know. Maybe not. I’m still kind of numb. So probably not.”
Glad that was cleared up.
Packers receiver Donald Driver says he won’t retire, but he might be done with the Packers, as there’s talk that Green Bay won’t bring him back unless he’s willing to take a significant pay cut. Driver said he wasn’t ready to think about the possibility that the loss to the Giants was his last game as a Packer.
“No one prepared for this,” Driver said. “No one prepared to pack their bags up and move out. But you play the way we played, and that’s the outcome. You have to pack your bags and head down the road. I think right now, a lot of guys are saying they don’t know what to do. They don’t know when to go home. Because no one prepared to leave this week.”
Packers defensive end Mike Neal said he and his teammates still can’t believe that this is it.
“Nobody expected it,” Neal said. “We didn’t expect to be here. Everybody has blank stares on all their faces.”
This wasn’t a loss that the Packers are going to get over any time soon.