A roundup of what's happening on the Green Bay Packers beat.
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Mike McCarthy took the points early in the NFC Championship Game against the Seattle Seahawks, opting for field goals rather than gambling on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line twice in the first quarter.
More than a week after the overtime loss, the Packers coach revealed that they were not exactly no-brainer decisions, especially the first one.
In fact, he said Wednesday that he actually sent in a play for fourth down but changed his mind.
"The first fourth-and-1 was on the second series there, I actually had called the fourth-down play when I called it on the headsets," McCarthy said during his season wrap-up press conference.
He even revealed what the play call was.
"My third- and fourth-down calls would be '93-Iso, Wing-Rifle,'" McCarthy said.
But he changed his mind when he saw how the Seahawks stuffed fullback John Kuhn for no gain on second-and-goal from the 1 and did the same to running back Eddie Lacy on third down.
"The penetration I saw on the second down, I saw it again on the third down on the back side," McCarthy said. "That's why I decided to kick the field goal there."
On the Packers' next possession, receiver Randall Cobb officially was credited with a gain of 5 yards on a third-and-goal catch from the 6, but it looked like a long 1 yard to the end zone. In fact, even though it was a fourth-and-1, the field goal was 19 yards instead of the 18-yarder on the previous possession.
"If I recall that was fourth-and-2, so I took the points there," McCarthy said.
McCarthy said there are always play calls and decisions that he goes backs and reviews, especially after a loss, and added "I regret not doing enough to help the team win."
However, it did not sound like he regretted taking the points early in the game.
"I think it's convenient to [say] 'Go for it now,' but like I said, you have a game plan," McCarthy said. "You feel how you match up going into the game, was very confident with the defense going into it and just the way they started. Eleven series into the game, our defense had kept our opponent to zero points. That's where my confidence was."
In case you missed it from ESPN.com:
Perhaps the most interesting thing McCarthy said during his 30-minute press conference was that he doesn't believe next year’s team will "bear the burden" of their collapse against the Seahawks.
McCarthy said he was just beginning the process of evaluating his coaching staff, meaning there was no word on whether he plans to retain special teams coordinator Shawn Slocum.
Despite moving to inside linebacker on a part-time basis, Clay Matthews is still an outside linebacker, McCarthy said, but where Matthews plays next season may depend on what additions the Packers make to their roster.
McCarthy issued a statement thanking those who have supported his family since his brother died unexpectedly last week.
We continued to look at the top-10 plays that most shaped the season with No. 8.
Best of the rest:
At ESPNWisconsin.com, Jason Wilde wrote that McCarthy's job is to get his team over the gut-wrenching loss to the Seahawks.
At PackerReport.com, Bill Huber wrote that the Packers' high-scoring offense must get even better next year.
In the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Pete Dougherty wrote that the Packers are in just as good a position to get to the Super Bowl next year as they were last year at this time and maybe even in a better one.
In the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Tom Silverstein wrote that in the Super Bowl, the Patriots might have just as much trouble running out the clock late in the game as the Packers did in the NFC title game.