GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Randall Cobb has never seen a January without a playoff game in his NFL career, so his stance after Sunday's loss to the Carolina Panthers was understandable. He was asked if the reality that the Green Bay Packers' run of eight straight postseason appearances will come to an end had set in.

"No, not technically it hasn't set in yet," said Cobb, the seventh-year receiver. "We're hoping that there's still opportunity for us."

That opportunity officially ended Monday night, when the Atlanta Falcons dashed the Packers' hopes of an NFL-record-tying ninth straight playoff appearance. The Falcons' win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers eliminated the Packers from wild-card consideration the day after the Minnesota Vikings took the NFC North title away from Green Bay.

Now the Packers have to process the idea that their last two games are meaningless.

"I haven't gotten there yet," Packers receiver Jordy Nelson said in Carolina. "So as a football player, I think everyone is week by week. That's how we're programmed. I think that's how we live our life pretty much. It's obviously part of the situation we're in, but we've still got two games to go out and do our job, and that's play football and hopefully get two wins."

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Since Nelson's arrival in 2008, the Packers have made the playoffs every season but his rookie year, when the Packers went 6-10 in Aaron Rodgers' first season as a starter.

What happens now?

The Packers first have to decide whether they'll play Rodgers on Saturday against the Vikings -- a decision that should be finalized by Tuesday.

There will be plenty of support to sit Rodgers, who was rusty in his return Sunday from an eight-week layoff following surgery to repair his broken right collarbone. But it might not be a clear-cut decision, given the myriad factors involved.

The Packers worked out two quarterbacks on Monday -- veteran Matt McGloin and rookie Garrett Fugate of Central Missouri -- before they re-signed backup Joe Callahan, who was released Saturday to make room for Rodgers to come off injured reserve.

There are also lingering long-term issues that run much deeper than one season. It has been seven seasons since the Packers' last Super Bowl appearance.

Packers president Mark Murphy has vigorously defended the track record of general manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy, often using the consecutive playoff streak as part of his reasoning. He did so last summer shortly before training camp.

"I hear from a lot of fans that they're disappointed that I've accepted mediocrity and I'm just happy to be in the playoffs and that I should fire Ted and Mike and then after I do that, retire," Murphy said at the time. "So you realize that it's a spread and there's all kinds of fans, but I would hope that the average or typical fan understands that when you work for the Packers organization and you set a record for most consecutive years in the playoffs, with our history and tradition, that's pretty good.

"If we are fortunate enough to make the playoffs this year, we would tie the NFL record, so it's not something that is easily accomplished, particularly when the whole league is set up for parity. It's hard to have consistent success."

Murphy also said at the time that Thompson, who will turn 65 next month, essentially has the GM job for as long as he wants it.

"As long as he wants to continue to work and he's still doing a good job -- and I think he still does a great job for us -- I want him to continue to be our general manager," Murphy said of Thompson last summer.

It's always possible that Thompson could retire, which would take one aspect of the decision out of Murphy's hands. But Murphy has never hired a GM -- he inherited Thompson -- so it's a mystery which way he would go if he decided to make a change.

He has plenty of in-house candidates to consider as Thompson's replacement, but one of the top outside possibilities, John Dorsey, is off the market after he took the Browns GM job earlier this month.

If Murphy maintains the status quo in the personnel department, perhaps McCarthy wouldn't feel any urgency to change his coaching staff, despite cries for a new defensive coordinator from unhappy fans. But McCarthy will have to decide whether he can go on with Dom Capers after the defense once again failed to make a significant improvement.

Would McCarthy really want to go into the final year of his contract with a new defensive coordinator?

McCarthy and Thompson are tied together, with both signed through the 2018 season (though most GM contracts run through the draft, which means Thompson is likely up in spring 2019). Perhaps McCarthy would be more willing to consider changes to his staff if he had the security of a new deal.

Some of those questions won't be answered until the season ends, which will come earlier than it has in years.