He can blame the Arizona defense for his misery.

Karlos Dansby returned Rodgers’s fumble 17 yards for a touchdown that gave the Cardinals a 51-45 victory over the Green Bay Packers yesterday.

Rodgers, who started the game with an interception but was marvelous after that, was stripped by Michael Adams. The ball careened off Rodgers’s foot and into the hands of Dansby, who ran untouched for the score.

“He made a sack, the ball went in the air, I just made a play on the ball,’’ Dansby said.

The reigning NFC champion Cardinals (11-6) rushed the field to celebrate.

“That’s probably one of the best games ever played in the playoffs,’’ Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt said.

Warner, who improved his playoff record to 9-3, completed 29 of 33 passes for 379 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions. The five TDs matched the 38-year-old’s career best.

Rodgers, in his first playoff start, was 28 of 42 for 422 yards and four TDs. All but two of Rodgers’s yards came after the first quarter.

“It’s clearly one of the toughest losses I’ve been a part of,’’ Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy said. “I’m very proud of our football team and fight. This is a hard game to swallow.’’

The previous high for combined points in a postseason game was 95, in Philadelphia’s 58-37 win over Detroit Dec. 30, 1995. The teams combined for 1,024 yards. Arizona had 531, including 156 rushing, against a Packers defense ranked No. 2 overall, No. 1 against the run.

“Whew,’’ Warner said at his postgame news conference, “anybody else tired?’’

The NFC West champion Cardinals play at New Orleans Saturday.

It was the most points scored and allowed by the Packers (11-6) in their storied 41-game playoff history.

Dansby started and ended the game with big plays. He broke up Rodgers’s opening pass and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie intercepted. The next time the Packers got the ball, Dansby stripped Donald Driver and Arizona’s Alan Branch recovered.

With Anquan Boldin sidelined with ankle and knee injuries, Warner threw two touchdown passes to Larry Fitzgerald, two to Early Doucet, and one to Steve Breaston, who caught seven passes for 125 yards.

The previous playoff game to end on a defensive touchdown was Jan. 4, 2004, when Al Harris returned an interception 52 yards for a touchdown in Green Bay’s 33-27 win over Seattle.

Neil Rackers missed a 34-yard field goal at the end of regulation for Arizona.

Green Bay had won seven of its last eight, including a 33-7 victory against the Cardinals on the same field a week ago.

But the team with the fewest turnovers in the NFL (16) started the game with two of them and ended it with another.

In between, Green Bay rallied from a 21-point second-half deficit to twice tie the game.

After Rackers missed the field goal, the Packers won the toss. Since Arizona hadn’t stopped them since the first half, it didn’t look good for the home team.

But on third and 6 at the Green Bay 24, Adams, a 5-foot-8-inch cornerback, came through on a blitz and stripped Rodgers. On a bad bounce the Packers will remember for a long time, the ball caromed off Rodgers’s foot and right to Dansby.

“We had the play called earlier, but we missed the sack,’’ Dansby said. “With the game on the line, we called it again . . . See you in New Orleans, baby.’’

Rodgers said he should have just taken the sack.

“I was trying to unload it,’’ he said. “I should have held on to the ball. I was looking at the front side for [Driver]. It looked like he was getting grabbed a bit. Then I was looking for James [Jones] and they were driving in on him as he was running a little in-cut, so I kind of pulled the ball back and someone hit my arm.’’

Having trailed, 31-10, in the third quarter, Green Bay tied the game at 45 when Rodgers threw 11 yards to Spencer Havner with 1:52 to play.

That was plenty of time for Warner to drive the Cardinals downfield, but Rackers - 16 of 17 for the season and 10 of 10 inside 40 yards - booted it well left of the upright.

Green Bay called “tails’’ and won the toss. Three plays and one funky bounce later, it was over.

“Man,’’ Warner said, “what a football game.’’