CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Dave Gettleman has been on both ends of the spectrum when it comes to the Super Bowl – winning two with the New York Giants as a front-office assistant and losing Sunday as general manager of the Carolina Panthers.

“This side stinks,” Gettleman said.

But Gettleman said the Panthers are in good position moving forward with the vast majority of the team’s core players under contract and the team “not in horrible shape” under next season’s NFL salary cap.

He acknowledged that going 15-1 in the regular season and reaching the Super Bowl was “very unique,” but was quick to add that the goal is to get refocused and next year reach the peak of the mountain.

“You can’t sit here on your laurels because you went to the Super Bowl and just think you’re going to go back again,” Gettleman said.

He’s right.

The last seven Super Bowl losers have returned to the playoffs the following season, but none have made it back to the big game.

In fact, the last to lose a Super Bowl and make it back the following year was Buffalo, which did so three times in the early 1990s. The last time a team lost the Super Bowl and came back to win it all the following season was the Miami Dolphins in 1973.

Coach Ron Rivera wants to change all of that.

Rivera congratulated his players on a special season Tuesday before they packed their bags and headed out the door, then flipped the page forward to next season.

“The truth of the matter is that you would love to be in the position that Denver is right now, celebrating, but we’re not,” Rivera said. “So going forward, there are 30 teams behind us and one in front of us. That’s our goal – if you want to be the champs, beat the champs. We’ve got to start planning and mapping, and getting ready for next season, which we have.”

That begins this week.

Rivera said he will take three days off before he, Gettleman and the scouting staff get together to begin discussing the roster.

Perhaps the two biggest questions the Panthers face are deciding whether to re-sign free- agent cornerback Josh Norman (or use the franchise tag on him), and whether to release defensive ends Charles Johnson and Jared Allen, two potential moves that would free up more than $19 million in salary-cap space combined.

Gettleman refused to speculate on those or any other moves, saying he hasn’t evaluated the roster and even if he had, “I don’t talk contracts.”

All-Pro fullback Mike Tolbert will be an unrestricted free agent, and wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery and safety Roman Harper have contracts that will void this offseason.

Defensive tackles Kawann Short, who was twice named NFC Defensive Player of the Month this season, is under contract through 2016 but the Panthers may look to extend his deal before training camp.

Rivera acknowledged the 2016 Panthers will look different from this year’s team.

“That locker room will never be the same,” Rivera said. “… I was in Chicago with the ’85 team that went to the Super Bowl, and the ’86 team was better statistically but we didn’t win because we didn’t have that same chemistry in the locker room. Things are going to change.”

GIANTS: The team announced that linebacker Jon Beason has retired, and that offensive linemen Will Beatty and Geoff Schwartz have been released.

All three finished the season on injured reserve with Beatty missing the entire season.

BROWNS: Linebacker Armonty Bryant has been indicted on two felony drug charges.

Bryant and former teammate De’Ante Saunders were arrested on Christmas following a traffic stop. Police said they found marijuana, prescription drugs and a loaded handgun in Saunders’ car. He also was cited for drunken driving. The Browns released him from their practice squad.

Bryant was suspended by former general manager Ray Farmer for Cleveland’s final two games.