The article assumes that these institutions are truly too big to fail. But what would have happened if they had been allowed to go into traditional bankruptcy?

The article assumes that these institutions are truly too big to fail. But what would have happened if they had been allowed to go into traditional bankruptcy? Alternately, what would have happened if they had been allowed to fail in a controlled way, something similar to an FDIC takeover rather than the "bailouts" that were done? Are there any good resources or analysis on it? I would be highly interested.