The players were back at Lambeau Field on Monday morning, less than 18 hours after ending a disappointing 6-10 season at home with a 31-21 victory over the winless Detroit Lions.

The result of the final game provided little consolation to the Packers, who went 13-3 to win the NFC North last season and came within an overtime field goal by the New York Giants in the NFC Championship Game of advancing to the Super Bowl.

"We feel like we left a lot of football (out there) this whole season," veteran receiver Donald Driver said. "To get a win under our belt, it's great. I think a lot of guys are going to take a lot from this and go home and feel we should've been doing this all season."

Green Bay fizzled in the second half of the season, losing seven of its final nine games after the bye week. The Packers had lost five in a row before winning Sunday, becoming the final team to hand the Lions a defeat in their unprecedented 0-16 season.

"It's one of the rare things in the NFL where you get a chance to win your last game," defensive end Aaron Kampman said. "We did that, and we'll take some momentum from it."

The Packers will have a longer offseason than they're accustomed to to dwell on how their season got away from them. They lost all seven games that were decided by four points or less - a single-season franchise record for close losses.

"That's the NFL right there," quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. "Games are won and lost by two or three plays just about every game. We've got to make those plays next year.

"There's going to be similar situations, we're going to have a lot of our guys back, and we're going to need to win those close games and get back to where we think (we can be)."