"Green Bay Packers safety Nick Collins will see a spinal specialist in the coming weeks to figure out the best treatment for his injured neck, but in the meantime his season is over.

Collins was given the bad news Monday after an overnight stay in a Charlotte hospital.

"It's something he's definitely going to miss the season over," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Monday afternoon. "He just got back. He just came back to our facility from Dr. (Pat) McKenzie's office with the consultation that they had for the last hour or so. This is where we are."

McCarthy stated after the Packers' 30-23 victory over Carolina Sunday that the prognosis for Collins looked good based on the first two tests taken, but he said he was informed a short time later that another test showed a problem.

"Once I got out of the news conference, the information went the other way," McCarthy said. "Obviously, it's an evaluation process you have to go through the testing and that's how we got to where we are.

"I was a little bit surprised, too, based off of the comments I made yesterday after the game, and my mind-set before I walked into that news conference definitely changed after that.""