Aaron Rodgers losing in the playoffs, like this,…

The excitement of their return, coupled with the way the game started with a Packers touchdown and multiple 49ers three-and-outs, had Lambeau Field at a fever pitch early.

It was all lined up for so much more.

“We truly had a Super Bowl-caliber team,” Rodgers said. “In other years, it feels like sometimes you need things to go your way, but that didn’t feel like this season.

“It felt like getting these guys back and the way we were playing on offense, and the way we could play on defense with those guys – and obviously they played excellent tonight – you just felt like this was a team that could really win it and didn’t need a bunch of things to go their way.

“We just needed to make the plays in all three phases and then one of the phases played excellent, we didn’t have a great night (on offense) and obviously special teams didn’t either.”

Whether or not this was Rodgers’ last game in a Packers uniform will be known within a couple of months, but if it was, it’s almost impossible to fathom this was how it played out.

The Packers had seven points on the board 5½ minutes into the game and added only three over the remaining 54½ minutes. Before this, Rodgers had never put up fewer than 20 points in a postseason game, no matter the weather conditions, health of the team or turnovers the Packers might’ve committed.

A playoff loss can happen to anyone at any time. Rodgers and the Packers know this as well as any Hall of Fame player or successful team.

But for this quarterback and this team to lose, like this, given its history, is as stunning as it is crushing.

“Ten points is obviously not enough,” Rodgers said. “The defense, man, played outstanding. Special teams obviously hurt us, taking points off the board and giving them points.

“But offensively, scoring 10 points, never good enough.”