Green Bay Packers

McCarthy, Rodgers have been extremely unlucky in close playoff games

Published Jan. 18, 2016 11:49 a.m. ET

foxsports

Since Mike McCarthy became the head coach in 2006, the Green Bay Packers have been severely unlucky in tight playoff games.

The 26-20, overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday night was McCarthy's seventh playoff loss with the Packers. It was the fifth time his Packers fell on the final play of the game.

Via ESPN's Jason Wilde:

The #Packers have now lost seven playoff games under Mike McCarthy. FIVE of them were on the last play of the game.
— Jason Wilde (@jasonjwilde) January 17, 2016

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers has now lost three career playoff games in overtime, making him one of three quarterbacks in NFL history with at least that many -- Brett Favre and Peyton Manning are the others.

Via SportsCenter on Twitter:

Aaron Rodgers is the 3rd starting QB to lose 3 postseason games in OT. The others: Brett Favre & Peyton Manning. pic.twitter.com/J4RSVDCUsJ
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 17, 2016

McCarthy's first crushing playoff loss came in the 2007 NFC Championship, when kicker Lawrence Tynes lifted the New York Giants to a 23-20 victory with a 47-yard field goal in overtime. Favre was still the quarterback then, so Rodgers' overtime playoff losses were against the Cardinals in January of 2010 (Wild Card), against the Seattle Seahawks last January (NFC Championship) and against the Cardinals again this January (Divisional).

The other heart-breaking loss during McCarthy's tenure was not an overtime game. After the 2013 season, the Packers lost, 23-20, in the Wild Card round to the San Francisco 49ers on a last-second field goal by Phil Dawson from 33 yards out.