PHOENIX — There's a better chance of Mike McCarthy having a training-camp movie night showing of Remember the Titanson a VHS tape than there is of the Green Bay Packers coach pinning his team's motivational hopes on its gut-wrenching loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game.
In the wake of their 28-22 overtime loss to the Seahawks — in a game where the Packers held leads of 16-0 at halftime and 19-7 with 5 minutes to play in regulation — McCarthy insisted that the 2015 team would not "bear the burden" of that loss.
On Sunday afternoon, as he got ready for the annual NFL Meetings at the Arizona Biltmore Resort, McCarthy told reporters in an informal interview session in the hotel lobby that he wouldn't use the loss as the basis for his annual theme, something he presents to the players every year at the start of training camp.
"[Come] hell or high water, we're not going to run out there and come up with some slogan, 'Remember Seattle,'" McCarthy said. "I'm not going to do that."
In the wake of the loss, there was some reason for concern about a possible hangover, given how the Packers seemingly had a Super Bowl XLIX berth sewn up and were thoroughly outplaying the defending Super Bowl champions in the most difficult environment in the league, CenturyLink Field.
You know what happened next: An astonishing number of miscues including — but not limited to — a 19-yard third-quarter touchdown pass by Seahawks holder Jon Ryan to tackle Garry Gilliam on a fake field goal for Seattle's first points of the game; safety Morgan Burnett's inexplicable decision (upon the advice of linebacker Julius Peppers) to lie down after what could have been a victory-clinching interception with 5 minutes to go; and tight end Brandon Bostick ignoring his assignment to block on a Seattle onside kick with just over 2 minutes left in regulation, setting up the Seahawks' go-ahead touchdown.
That's why, at this point, McCarthy said it's time to move on. He suggested the only time the topic of the game even comes up is when reporters ask about it.
"We've had a chance to evaluate the game," McCarthy said. "The coaches have been through the scheme evaluations. We've seen all the good plays three or four times. We've seen the not-so-good plays probably too many times. We'll evaluate that. We have evaluated it and we're starting to build our installs for next year."
Jason Wilde wrote: