Despite Stunning Loss, Packers Still Loaded for Another Run Next Year

Losses like the Green Bay Packers' collapse in Sunday's NFC Championship Game are liable to haunt a franchise long after the initial damage.

Like a bad dream, foundation-rattling defeats can leave a collection of individuals groggy upon awakening, with the line between reality and fantasy blurred and the psyche vulnerable to the subtle punches of the trauma just endured. 

The Packers can't wake from this nightmare. This fantasy scenario is reality. Sunday's 28-22 overtime loss in Seattle will live on as one of the franchise's lowest postseason moments, a golden opportunity missed in a league offering so few of them.

Now, all that remains is the promise of a loaded team with an MVP quarterback and mostly intact roster gearing up for another arduous run at a Super Bowl next season. 

The Packers won't play another meaningful football game for eight months. They'll need every second possible to recover from a collapse defying rational thought.

A touchdown underdog in the game's loudest stadium and against the generation's greatest defense, Green Bay failed to hold commanding leads of 16-0 at halftime and 19-7 with under four minutes to go in the fourth quarter. A trip to Glendale, Arizona, for Super Bowl XLIX was so close that the wet, blustery conditions of Seattle must have, for just a brief moment of time, felt as arid and welcoming as the Arizona desert.

One play here, one play there, and the defending champions were done. Instead, Seattle's rope-a-dope fight lived on. The Packers swung and missed one too many times. Just over three minutes into an overtime period that never should have been needed, Green Bay's lifeless carcass was flat on its back—the recipient of a knockout punch for the ages.

Getting up off the canvas won't be easy, but it can be done. 

The Packers franchise knows far too well how devastating postseason losses can alter the future. Terrell Owens' miracle catch in the 1998 NFC Wild Card Game ended with Mike Holmgren—who led the Packers to Super Bowls in 1996 and 1997—resigning and taking a job with the Seahawks. The 4th-and-26 debacle in the 2003 NFC Divisional Round was the beginning of the end for Mike Sherman. Brett Favre's final pass for the Packers was intercepted in the 2007 NFC Championship Game.  

The Packers of the present are far more stable. Head coach Mike McCarthy, general manager Ted Thompson and quarterback Aaron Rodgers all recently signed contract extensions. The three men have powered Green Bay's rise, and no three men will be more important for the ship staying its course. 

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McCarthy sports a 94-49-1 career record in the regular season. His teams have qualified for the postseason in seven of his nine years, including the last six in a row. Comfortable as head coach, he doesn't appear to crave control over personnel decisions. 

Thompson is consistently lauded as one of the best team builders in football. A tireless worker who builds through the draft and makes smart, calculated moves in free agency, Thompson gives McCarthy a championship roster almost every season. 

Rodgers, now 31, might win his second league MVP at the end of this month. He's as feared as any quarterback in the game. His window for winning championships remains wide open. And while Rodgers doesn't always agree with his head coach, the two share a deep mutual respect for one another. 

McCarthy is now taking heat for his team's collapse in Seattle, and Rodgers played poorly despite being given numerous opportunities to put the Seahawks away. Thompson's roster, the most complete it's been since 2010, failed to get back to the Super Bowl. But as long as the three remain alive and well in Green Bay, the Packers will be in contention to play for championships every season. 

That includes 2015-16. 

Rodgers leads an offense with only a few looming question marks. Receiver Randall Cobb and right tackle Bryan Bulaga are free agents, but Thompson has never willingly let a young player he drafted get away in free agency. The Packers have the money to bring both back on extensions. 

The rest of the group remains intact. Jordy Nelson signed a new deal last summer, keeping him in Green Bay through 2019. Guards Josh Sitton and T.J. Lang are signed through 2017. Running back Eddie Lacy's rookie deal also keeps him around through 2017. 

As long as Cobb and Bulaga are extended, the Packers will enter 2015 with an impressive group of pass-catchers (including rookies Davante Adams and Richard Rodgers), an impressive group of blockers (left tackle David Bakhtiari and center Corey Linsley round out the five) and an impressive running back entering his prime.

The quarterback is still pretty good too. Rodgers' arm, intelligence and preparation will keep him among the game's elite for years to come. 

Barring injury, there's no reason the Packers can't once again lead the league in points as a dominant offense. 

The defense has tough decisions ahead. Thompson must decide if veterans Julius Peppers and Tramon Williams will return to the club in 2015. If not, the Packers might be back in the market for a pass-rusher and cornerback. Green Bay still needs to get better in the front seven, especially at inside linebacker. A high pick could be used at the position in an effort to move Clay Matthews back to the edge at his more natural spot. 

Then again, the Packers do have building blocks at every level, with Mike Daniels up front, Matthews among the linebackers and cornerback Sam Shields and safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix on the back end. There was more than enough talent on the defense in 2014 for the Packers to play for a title, no matter the outcome of Sunday's collapse. 

Overcoming such a devastating defeat on a psychological level might be Green Bay's biggest hurdle. Players invest hours, days and months to build for a chance to play in the Super Bowl. The Packers' moment came and went in a flash of pure madness, flushing a year's worth of work down the toilet in a matter of minutes. These are professional athletes we're talking about, grown men paid millions of dollars to play the game. But the human element of such a disappointment is undeniable.

On paper, the Packers remain loaded for multiple runs at the Super Bowl. If Cobb and Bulaga are retained, and the defense continues filling in holes, Green Bay is as good a bet as any to win the whole thing next February.   

This reality is the smallest of consolations for the 2014 Packers, a group of players and coaches that will likely be haunted by the events of Jan. 18, 2015, for the rest of their football lives. 

Zach Kruse covers the NFC North for Bleacher Report. 

Follow @zachkruse2