Greatest Game Ever Played?

It's over.

Those were the words I uttered to my wife after Kurt Warner hit Larry Fitzgerald on a 33-yard scoring strike on the opening drive of the second half to make it a 21-point game in last night's Packers-Cardinals Wild Card showdown for the ages.

We can debate for days about what would have happened if Mike Adams gets called for a facemask penalty after his raking of Aaron Rodgers. That's what you do after a heartbreaking loss. You play the "What if..." game. However, if one is going to play the "What if..." game, it should be less on the questionable no-call on the game's final play and more on these three moments:

*What if Aaron Rodgers doesn't try to do too much on the game's first play and doesn't throw that bad pass that ends up in the hands of Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie? Say what you want about how the game ended, the real debate is how the game started. Rodgers gave a explosive Cardinals offense great field position just one play into the game. Then, on the Packers' second pass play of the game, Donald Driver fumbles the ball striving for extra yards. Just like that, it's 14-0 Cardinals. You take away those two plays, perhaps it's a different ballgame. Perhaps it's more like the Packers-Cardinals game of a week ago, and less like the Packers-Steelers game of a month ago, where defense was optional and the game came down to who could make a play when it mattered.

*What if Rodgers doesn't overthrow Greg Jennings on the first play of overtime by about two yards? As much as the Rodgers fumble that led to the Karlos Dansby TD will stick in the minds of all those who watched as the signature moment of one of the greatest playoff games of all-time, that play never happens if Rodgers hits Jennings deep over the middle when Jennings had the defense behind him and nothing but the end zone and Saints next week in front of him. Look, I'm not putting the game on Rodgers. He played beyond the expectations of even the most delusional Packers fan, setting a postseason record with 422 passing yards in his postseason debut. That being said, there were times when Rodgers played like a guy who felt like the world lied on his shoulders. That was evident in the first play of regulation(the tipped pass that ends up in Cromartie's hands) and the first play of OT(where Rodgers got a little too excited and missed Jennings' fingertips by a mile). You could make the case that perhaps Packers' coach Mike McCarthy should have slowed things down a bit after a second half of back-and-forth scoring drives and utilized RB Ryan Grant a little bit more instead of going for the kill on the first play. After all, the more rest you give a defense that was getting mutilated, the better, right? The overthrow clearly stuck in Rodgers' head(a fact he admitted to afterward) and that's what led to him reverting back to the Rodgers that took bad sacks and held the ball too long in the first half of the season, which led to him coughing up the fumble(that, and Adams' eye rake, but I digress).

*What if the refs don't botch the blatant offensive pass interference call on Larry Fitzgerald on the final score of the third quarter? If Packers fans are going to be in an uproar over bad calls, they should drop the "facemask-tuck rule" debate that went on for hours after the game and focus on the refs completely missing Fitzgerald bowling over Charles Woodson on route to making one of his trademark diving catches on Warner's lame duck pass into the end zone after Warner was clobbered by Cullen Jenkins. Jenkins made a case after the game that he felt he was held on the play, so you wonder why there wasn't more of a stink on the fact that the refs apparently missed two big calls on the same play in a game that was a shootout. Now, do the Cardinals score if Fitzgerald is called for interference instead for a touchdown? Probably. Who knows? But, to me, the missed call that every seems to be in agreement over(SI's Peter King even mentions it in his Monday Morning Quarterback piece) has to be Fitzgerald pulling a Bo Jackson on Woodson before changing directions and hauling in the pass for the 11-yard score. Maybe Woodson makes a play on it if he's not on the ground, maybe he doesn't, but that was a terrible miss in what was a surprisingly close game.

So, yeah, it's easy for Packers fans to sit and sulk the rest of the offseason, but I will not. Fact is, five minutes into the third quarter, the Packers were down three scores and ended up overwhelming the defending NFC champs over the next 25 minutes and forcing overtime where they came withing two yards of playing New Orleans next week. Aaron Rodgers, for all the criticism following last season about his inability to close late in games, took over the second half and brought the Pack back with his legs and his arm. If last night didn't make you a believer that Rodgers is one of the three best QBs in football, nothing will.

As for what happens now, there's two things to be optimistic over. One, of the Packers 22 starters, only six are over the age of 30(Aaron Kampman, Al Harris, Charles Woodson, Donald Driver, Chad Clifton, Mark Tauscher.....and many expect Kampman, Harris and/or Clifton to not return next season). Second, of the team's six losses to five teams, two of those teams will potentially have new QBs next year(Arizona, who will lose Kurt Warner to retirement, and possibly Minnesota, who could see Brett Favre ride off into the sunset depending on how the rest of the playoffs shake out). The possible departure of Favre is the most intriguing because a. Backup Tarvaris Jackson is a free agent and certainly won't come back if Favre does(not that Jackson was effective anyway) and b. other than a surplus of rookie QBs, there's nobody out there that can potentially replace Favre that would scare Green Bay(except maybe Donovan McNabb).

That being said, there's work to be done. The team needs to enter next season with some youth on both offensive tackle spots(good youth, too, like Iowa's Bryan Buluga or someone of that ilk), some improved depth in the secondary(because you can't expect Al Harris to go strong after his second straight season-ending injury and there's nothing behind Tramon Williams) and another pass rusher to go opposite Clay Matthews Jr(because Brad Jones and Brandon Chillar are serviceable, but they don't scare you like, say, a Julius Peppers). The team also needs to make a decision on who's returning kicks for them next season. Will Blackmon is fine return man, but he's oft-injured and, clearly, Jordy Nelson can't fill his shoes. Maybe the Packers can finagle Josh Cribbs out of Cleveland or look in the draft at a Joe McKnight or a (gulp!) Noel Devine.

The moral of the story is this: Last night's thriller left us all speechless but the Packers, even in defeat, said a mouthful with their performance. They're young. They're talented and they might be the scariest team in the NFL over the remainder of this decade.