Green Bay Packers: Dude, Where's My Super Bowl?

If nothing else, the Green Bay Packers proved on Sunday in the 2014 NFC Championship game that there's a huge difference between teams that say they want to win the Super Bowl and teams that go out and do so.

In choking away the biggest halftime lead in conference championship history, the Packers proved they were merely paying lip service to their desire for the Lombardi Trophy while the Seattle Seahawks proved they were willing to throw every ounce of belief and effort into actually winning it.

Leading the conference championship game by a score of 19-7 with the ball in hand and only five minutes and 13 seconds remaining in regulation, the Packers simply went away in all three phases of the contest and were blindsided by a Seattle squad that simply never gave up.

The Seahawks actually needed only about four minutes left on the game clock to flip the script and go from trailing by 12 to leading by three. Seattle would never look back in denying the Packers their sixth Super Bowl appearance and handing the team one of its most devastating losses in franchise history by a score of 28-22 in overtime.

Offensive Woes

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is always under a microscope, but never more so than in a big game like a conference championship. The zoom on that lens extended when Rodgers was named the Pro Football Writers Association (PFWA) 2014 MVP just days before said game.

Albeit hobbled by a calf injury, Rodgers turned in a below-average performance, going 19 of 34 in the air for 178 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions during the loss to the Seahawks.

Unfortunately, Rodgers picked the most important game of the season to post his second-lowest quarterback rating (51.0) of the entire 2014 season.

Rodgers was, of course, injured, but he did appear more nimble than he had been the week before when he turned in an excellent performance against the Cowboys, throwing for 316 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions (125.4 quarterback rating).

Against Seattle, Rodgers and company were only able to get into the end zone on a defensive penalty in which the quarterback had a free play and found Randall Cobb uncovered in the end zone. Outside of that, the PFWA's 2014 MVP delivered a mostly-forgettable performance in the team's biggest game since its Super Bowl victory following the 2010 season.

Under Rodgers' leadership on Sunday, the Packers were forced to settle for five field goals and failed to make a first down on the team's last two possessions.

For a quarterback constantly praised for his freedom and ability to change calls at the line of scrimmage, there can be no doubting that Rodgers was subpar on Sunday, even if one argues that the play-calling from the sideline also fell short.

When all was said and done, the Packers got six points on five Seattle turnovers and ultimately allowed the Seahawks to become only the second of 44 teams (2-42) to win a game in the playoffs (Super Bowl era) after throwing at least four interceptions.

That's not exactly a statistic any team wants to be on the other side of.

Tom Pennington/Getty Images

McCarthy is no Lombardi

Being the head coach of a team that surrenders the biggest comeback in conference championship history speaks for itself. Mike McCarthy is as accountable as any player on the field for what transpired on Sunday and will need to address those deficiencies in the offseason.

McCarthy might have passed the great Vince Lombardi this season on the total wins list as head coach of the Green Bay Packers, but the comparison between the two ends there.

Throughout his outstanding career, Lombardi compiled a regular season record of 96-34-6 (.728), which actually isn't light-years better than McCarthy's rate of 94-49-1 (.654).

The main difference is that Lombardi was able to build on his record of success in the postseason, whereas McCarthy's teams have shown a tendency to wilt on the game's biggest stages.

In his career, Vince Lombardi led the Packers to six titles and a playoff record of 9-1 over nine seasons as head coach. McCarthy has compiled a record of 7-5 in the playoffs along with one league title during his nine years at the helm of the Packers.

While the two eras are obviously quite different, it's next to impossible to imagine a team led by Vince Lombardi surrendering such a big lead in the final minutes of a conference championship game as the 2014 Packers did under Mike McCarthy on Sunday.

The Bostick Situation

Outside of the quarterback and head coach, it seems easy to look back at a single moment during the Packers' collapse and blame it all on a single scapegoat.

However, the fact is that when the Packers needed a team-wide effort to finish off the Seahawks in the fourth quarter, what materialized was a herd of goats as opposed to just one.

Surely, many pundits and fans will try and point to Brandon Bostick's failure to secure a late onside kick as one of the primary reasons for the team's loss on Sunday.

The fact is that Bostick's miscue was merely one error in a slew of mental letdowns that plagued the Packers in the last 30 minutes of the game.

First, the special teams of the Green and Gold failed to adequately defend a fake field goal which helped turn the game's momentum back in the Seahawks favor.

Similarly, Morgan Burnett's late interception was marred by his inability to advance the ball further downfield when it looked like there was plenty of open space left in front of him.

Andrew Quarless also committed a potentially game-changing error when he failed to convert a huge third down pass that hit him in the numbers late in regulation.

The horror show that represented some of the Packers defensive highlights earlier in the season also reappeared when the team nearly sacked Russell Wilson on a critical two-point attempt and instead gave up a desperation heave as a successful conversion.

The fact is there's a lengthy list of mistakes and letdowns that resulted in the Packers losing to the Seahawks on Sunday.

After dictating a game they were expected to lose for roughly 55 of 60 minutes, the team simply did not possess the moxie to finish the job.

The 2014 NFC Championship Game was served up on a platter for the Packers, and rather than claiming it, they sent it back to the kitchen.

The Aftermath

Each and every member of the 2014 Green Bay Packers needs to take a long look in the mirror and accept responsibility for losing a game that was clearly in hand with just over five minutes remaining in regulation.

There's absolutely no doubt that every Packer, player and coach, could have done something more to ensure that the team won that game instead of surrendering the greatest collapse in conference championship history.

Whether it be some extra words of advice/encouragement from coach to player or making one of those big plays that never materialized, what occurred on Sunday was a team-wide implosion attributable to a lack of focus and desire.

It's easy to blame these events on quarterback Aaron Rodgers, head coach Mike McCarthy or one of the other scapegoats in the herd, but the problem goes deeper than that.

The team simply did not (or could not) finish what they started.

In 1995, the Green Bay Packers suffered a similar defeat against the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Championship game after holding a slight lead in the fourth quarter.

The following year, the 1996 Green Bay Packers successfully channeled that frustration and disappointment into the grit and desire necessary to win the franchise's first Super Bowl title in 29 years.

The 2014 Green Bay Packers proved last Sunday they could dominate one of the best teams in the NFL for almost 60 minutes. What they failed to prove was their ability to dominate through the final whistle.

With the correct doses of acceptance, reflection and re-dedication, the 2015 Green Bay Packers could have the opportunity to prove that, like the 1996 squad, they can learn from their mistakes and turn in a complete game when the biggest hardware is up for grabs.

Combining those lessons with a productive offseason in terms of personnel management could make the Packers a team to be reckoned with in 2015.