PHILADELPHIA – When it was over, the Green Bay Packers had lost their top two remaining receivers, a pair of offensive linemen and a starting defensive tackle.

The bigger problem was that their once promising season was over before they lost this quintet.

In a largely similar game, the seventh-seeded Packers repeatedly lost to the NFC’s elite during the regular season. Their struggling offense coupled with some shaky special teams caused them to fail again on Sunday in a 22-10 wild-card loss to the NFC second-seeded Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.

Although the Packers have won two more games this season, the mood after Sunday’s loss was far weaker than last year, when the Packers won just nine games in the regular season but ended up winning six of the last eight games and so on advanced to the postseason before losing in the final minute of the divisional round.

“I think it’s hard to say now after a loss,” Packers quarterback Jordan Love said of the difference between the two seasons. “I don’t know if I would say it’s pointing downward.”

The Packers were trailing the Eagles 10-0 in the third quarter when receiver Romeo Doubs left with a concussion. He fell heavily in the end zone after a would-be touchdown pass was broken up and never returned after he was diagnosed with a concussion, his second of the season. The Packers capped that drive with a field goal and scored their first points with 5:46 left in the third quarter.

They were already without left guard Elgton Jenkins, who suffered a shoulder injury/injury in the first quarter, and the Packers tried two replacements – first rookie Travis Glover and then Kadeem Telfort. Glover was withdrawn after being called for three penalties, including two holds. Telfort ended the game but added another holding penalty.

In total, the Packers suffered five holding penalties – the most in a game since Matt LaFleur took over as coach in 2019.

Green Bay was down 16-3 when receiver Jayden Reed left in the third quarter and never returned because of a shoulder injury. After the game, Reed said his shoulder was dislocated. With the Packers already without Christian Watson, who suffered a torn ACL a week earlier, Love was without his top three receivers at the end of the game.

The Packers lost another offensive player in the fourth quarter – center Josh Myers. What appeared to be a serious knee injury turned out to be less serious, Myers said, although he was unable to return. He said the first clue was a possible hairline fracture in his lower leg. Myers also told ESPN after the game that he played the second half of the season with a torn pectoral muscle.

“So frustrating, man,” said Myers, who is set to become a free agent in the offseason. “It’s been such a long year, there’s so much that goes into it, that it’s just incredibly disappointing.”

“We just felt like we had no rhythm, like we were shooting ourselves in the foot. We got penalties, we turned the ball over. All the stuff you can’t do against a team like that, you can’t do it.”

On defense, the Packers lost lineman Devonte Wyatt – one of their best run stoppers – to a lower leg injury in the first quarter. Although the defense was solid, it failed to create turnovers, and the Eagles still allowed running back Saquon Barkley to finish with 119 rushing yards and 25 carries.

Love’s second season as a starter ended with a bang. He reached a career high with three interceptions and became the first Packers quarterback with a playoff game without a touchdown and three interceptions.

Asked if he took a step forward this season, which began with him signing a four-year, $220 million contract extension, Love said: “That’s a good question.”

“I think there are obviously areas where I have improved and where the team has improved,” he added. “And there are a few things I want to clean up, definitely get better at.”

That ended a season in which the Packers won 11 games but went 6-0 overall against the Eagles, Lions and Vikings and lost twice each to the NFC’s top three teams.

“All of those games we were spot on,” said Packers running back Josh Jacobs, who totaled 121 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown. “My biggest message this offseason – from the coaches to the players – is how do we take this step? We’ll figure out how to make this move, no one in this league will be able to fuck with us.”

In most of those games, slow starts doomed the Packers, just like they did against the Eagles. The Packers finished the game with four turnovers, the first of which came on the first play of the game when Keisean Nixon fouled the opening kickoff.

“I think this will be good food for thought this offseason because if we had the answers, obviously this wouldn’t have been a problem,” said LaFleur, who fell to 3-5 in the playoffs. “And the fact that it comes up multiple times is disappointing.”