"They had their plan," Whisenhunt said. "I guess they felt good about what they were doing."

Guess?

Whisenhunt has been agitated by McCarthy tactics in the past. He felt the Packers' coach game-planned for an exhibition contest against the Cardinals in August, a game in which the Packers went deep and led 38-10 at halftime. A needless embarrassment, in other words.

After sleeping on Sunday's loss, Whisenhunt's attitude hadn't changed much. He reiterated his regret for playing Boldin too long. He made it clear that he was rewarding Fitzgerald, ceding to a player who is (thankfully) driven by great personal ambition (fame and money). And then he struck back at the Packers.

He made it clear that McCarthy was doing nothing different on the other sideline, allowing Aaron Rodgers to throw the ball continually on the opening drive of the second half, even though the Packers led 26-0.

"It's something you would feel sick about had (Fitzgerald) gotten injured at the end, but I have no doubt in my mind that's what Green Bay was trying to do with Aaron Rodgers (Sunday) as far as the passing statistics, trying to get those things," Whisenhunt said. "That's part of it."

On that drive, Rodgers passed Favre for second place on the Packers' all-time single-season passing-yardage list. When the drive was over, he came out of the game. Coincidence? Hardly, and don't think that shameless pursuit of statistics wasn't the No. 1 priority.

"Well, Larry wanted the touchdown and he wanted 100 receptions," Whisenhunt said. "That was something that was important to him. That's the competitive side of Larry."