ATLANTA -- This wasn't the collapse against Seattle two years ago. Or last year's roller-coaster loss in Arizona.
It wasn't a trip to the Super Bowl, either.
At least the Green Bay Packers didn't lose on the last play this time. They lost Sunday's NFC Championship Game to the Atlanta Falcons on just about every other play in large part because the flaws -- a suspect secondary and the lack of a running game chief among them -- that Aaron Rodgers covered up during the team's run-the-table sprint finally did them in.
In a playoff exit unlike most others in the era of coach Mike McCarthy, the Packers were uncharacteristically blown out 44-21 at the Georgia Dome.
It changed the narrative of postseason defeats for a team and coach that have had their share of heartbreakers and meltdowns. Before Sunday, five of McCarthy's seven playoff losses came on the last play of the game. Four of those came in overtime, including the 2014 NFC title game loss at Seattle, in which the Packers blew a 12-point lead with four minutes to play.
Forty days after last year's overtime playoff loss at Arizona in a divisional-round game -- one that went to overtime, thanks to Rodgers' Hail Mary to Jeff Janis -- McCarthy was asked about the string of close playoff losses.
"First of all, none of us want to lose," McCarthy said in a candid interview at the NFL scouting combine. "But if you're going to beat me, it ain't going to be by much."
But they did have all kinds of problems on defense once again.
With LaDarius Gunter and Damarious Randall in the secondary, the Packers had no chance to effectively cover Julio Jones (nine catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns -- one of them a 73-yarder) and Mohamed Sanu (one touchdown).
"Whenever we got them third-and-long, we just couldn't get off the field," Randall said. "When you just keep on giving up third-and-longs, you're definitely going to lose that game."
For a change, Rodgers couldn't rescue the Packers, even though he surprisingly had his full complement of receivers. Jordy Nelson (broken ribs), Davante Adams (ankle) and Geronimo Allison (hamstring) all answered the bell and were active. Nelson, who played while wearing a vest reinforced with Kevlar to protect his two-week-old injury, even caught a touchdown pass. But it was far too late.
Unfortunately for the Packers, Rodgers doesn't kick field goals, nor does he run fullback draws. When it still had a chance to be a game, Mason Crosby shockingly missed wide right on a 41-yarder on the Packers' first drive. That ended an NFL-record streak of 23 consecutive successful postseason field goals, including last week's 51-yard winner against the Dallas Cowboys.
It was only a 10-0 deficit when fullback Aaron Ripkowski picked a terrible time for his first NFL fumble deep in Falcons territory. A 24-0 halftime deficit could easily have been 24-10, which might have been manageable, given how well Rodgers played during the eight-game win streak that put the Packers on the verge of Super Bowl LI after a 4-6 start.
Instead, the Packers were shut out in the first half of a playoff game for only the second time in the Super Bowl era.
A slew of injuries -- not among the receivers -- didn't help. The Packers lost six players during the course of the game: both starting guards (T.J. Lang and Lane Taylor) and right tackle Bryan Bulaga, plus linebacker Jake Ryan and defensive backs Kentrell Brice and Micah Hyde. Running back Ty Montgomery also went in and out of the game because of an apparent injury.
The Packers didn't have enough offensive linemen to finish the game, so they had to play defensive tackle Letroy Guion at guard. By that point, McCarthy pulled Rodgers with 2:36 to play. Rodgers finished 27-of-45 passing for 287 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
This one might hurt in a different way than some of the Packers' previous playoff losses, but unlike the others, it was easily explained.
What's more, 21 points were never going to be enough to keep up with quarterback Matt Ryan (392 yards passing, four touchdown passes and one rushing score) and the Falcons, who are on their way to the Super Bowl.
"There was only one team that was going to walk out of here today feeling the way you wanted to feel," McCarthy said. "But that's the beauty of competing in this league. It's not for everybody, and it's not for everybody to get to this point, and that's the reality of why we work the way we work, and they were better than us today. They played the way they needed to play early and often, and we did not."