INDIANAPOLIS — The banners stretch over the skywalks that connect Indianapolis' hotels to the Circle Center mall and other downtown hotspots, trumpeting the annual NFL scouting combine being in town.

NFL Scouting Combine: The 2008 season begins now! they read.

And it's not a moment too soon for the Green Bay Packers.

Although the combine ends today with the defensive backs' workouts, and general manager Ted Thompson, coach Mike McCarthy and the scouting staff will assemble for post-combine meetings to plot out their path toward the April 26-27 NFL draft, the weeklong evaluation of the 333 college prospects served as a bridge between the disappointment of the team's Jan. 20 NFC Championship Game loss to the New York Giants and the club's high hopes for next season.

"I don't think you ever put it away all the way. You just get back on the horse," Thompson said of his team's 23-20 overtime loss to the Giants at Lambeau Field. "The good thing about playing during the season, if you have a game where you don't win, you've got the next week. But everybody that gets in the playoffs except for the Super Bowl-winning team is going to feel the way we're feeling. So it's not unusual."

By playing into mid-January, the offseason work schedule was compressed compared to Thompson's first two seasons, when the Packers were finished when the regular season concluded. This time, he and his scouting staff went straight to the Senior Bowl following the loss to the eventual Super Bowl XLII champs, and pre-combine meetings began Feb. 1.

While Thompson said the schedule created some challenges, he wasn't complaining.

"The more you win, the more you want to win," Thompson said.

On the coaching side, McCarthy and his assistants went to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii several days early, as a reward, then coached the NFC during the week leading up to the Feb. 10 game before heading to the combine. The assistants have this week off before free agency kicks off Thursday at 11 p.m.

McCarthy said late last week he'd only watched the defensive film from the final game and had yet to watch his offense, whose final possession ended with Brett Favre's overtime interception, setting up Lawrence Tynes' winning field goal.

"I'll watch it," McCarthy said. "I need to watch it."

To move on?

"Move on? That game's always going to be there. It's a disappointing loss. People don't want to talk about it, (but) I'm just being honest," McCarthy said. "I don't dwell on it. I don't wake up crying at night about it. But I do think about it. It was a great opportunity, to be playing at home in the NFC Championship Game, that we did not take full advantage of.

"It's something that personally I need to learn from as a coach and I can promise you our football team will learn from that because there's aspects of playing championship football that you need to continue to identify, teach and command that it's done a certain way, because that's how you get to the next level."

CBA won't alter approach

Even though the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL owners and the players association could open up in November, potentially leading to an uncapped year, Thompson said the possibility won't affect how the Packers approach free agency.

"You have to be aware of your surroundings, but I don't think it's going to affect anything from a personnel standpoint too much," Thompson said. "But you have to be aware that there are different scenarios as we go forward. We've been for some time now talking about it, planning for it. But it will be uncharted water as well, so we'll all learn as we go along."