Aaron Rodgers and Packers bounced from playoffs by 49ers after fourth-quarter collapse

“A little numb for sure,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said.

“Just heartbroken, you know?” said running back Aaron Jones.

“It hurts so bad because there’s a finality to this thing,” LaFleur said. “I don’t think anybody envisioned it going the way it finished for us.”

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Green Bay’s loss, which came on a 45-yard field goal by Robbie Gould as time expired and secured San Francisco’s spot in the NFC championship game at Tampa Bay or Los Angeles, was wrenching because it was supposed to be a steppingstone. In the last two years, the Packers had never trailed in the divisional round and never led in the conference championship.

This season, everything aligned for the team and quarterback to finally turn regular season excellence into a deep playoff push. Stars made timely returns from injuries; the No. 1 seed funneled the NFC through Lambeau; the extreme cold gave the Packers a signature advantage, particularly on Saturday, when it was zero degrees with wind chill, the fifth-coldest playoff game in team history. But then the offense sputtered, the league’s worst special-teams unit had its worst day and the Packers became the first team in NFL history to win 39 or more games in a three-year span and not appear in a Super Bowl.

This offseason, the team is projected to be $44.8 million over the salary cap and has decision to make on several key players, including wideout Davante Adams and Rodgers. Rodgers said that, in the next week or so, he would speak with General Manager Brian Gutekunst and others before taking time to contemplate his future. He said he will decide whether to retire, leave, or stay with Green Bay ahead of free agency, which begins in mid-March.

“It’s tough to say at this point,” he said of which way he was leaning. “I don’t think it’s fair to anybody or myself to really go down those paths at this point.”

Mostly, Rodgers said he felt shocked. Some years, he said, he knew the Packers would need things to break their way to make a Super Bowl push. He believed this team was good enough to win outright.

“Sometimes you think things are going to go a certain way, and they take a big course-correction,” he added. “And you’ve just got to keep on moving on, keep on moving forward even when it doesn’t feel like it’s possible because of the sadness and frustration and the enormity of the expectations, and the disappointment of the results.”

The futile offense was surprising because, on the opening drive, Green Bay dominated San Francisco as San Francisco had Dallas six days earlier. The Packers faced no third downs and running back A.J. Dillon plowed up the middle for a six-yard touchdown. Yet the Packers, like the 49ers in the opening round, couldn’t extend the lead despite the opposing offense mostly moving backward.

LaFleur blamed himself for getting too run-heavy in the second half and the uneven distribution of passing targets to Jones and Adams (21) compared to everyone else (five).

“I didn’t have a great night tonight,” Rodgers said. He pointed out he missed reads and the 49ers limited the quick game that worked in Green Bay’s Week 3 win at San Francisco. “I definitely take my fair share of blame.”

Even when San Francisco stirred, driving just before halftime, it couldn’t finish. 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo threw the type of critical interception that has plagued his whole career. Furious, he threw his helmet, and when a team staffer tried to help him into a puffy jacket on the sideline, he couldn’t find the armholes for several seconds and flung it to the turf, too.

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Yet the Packers couldn’t turn the pick into points. San Francisco’s Jimmie Ward blocked the Packers’ last-second field goal attempt, foreshadowing what was to come. The Packers’ defense never broke — even coming up with a massive stop on a fourth-and-1 in the red zone — but they couldn’t fix their broken special teams.

After another stalled Packers drive late in the fourth quarter, the line allowed Jordan Willis to leak through and block Cody Bojourquez’s punt. Talanoa Hufanga scooped up the ball and ran it in for the game-tying score.

Four minutes later, following a timeout, the Packers had 10 players on the field to try to block the game-winning field goal.

“It can’t happen,” LaFleur said. “It’s unacceptable. Again, that’s on me.”

With all the expected changes this offseason, Rodgers was asked if he believes it will still be possible to win a Super Bowl in Green Bay.

“I don't know,” he said. “That's a fair question. Definitely one I've thought about. But there are a lot of decisions to be made.” He listed key players whose futures are uncertain. “I don’t want to be part of a rebuild, if I’m going to keep playing.”

“This thing, it’s definitely going to look different moving forward in Green Bay,” he added.

And now, one of the NFL’s preeminent franchises is heading toward an offseason that looms long and dark — like a Wisconsin winter.

— Sam Fortier

Continue reading for highlights and real-time analysis from Saturday’s game.