Packers Make Headlines for All the Wrong Reasons
The Green Bay Packers have moved on from one era to another with Aaron Rodgers’ departure to the New York Jets in the 2023 offseason. While the Vikings have had quite the quarterback carousel in those years, it was only the second quarterback transition in over 30 years, as Brett Favre and Rodgers held the gig for quite some time.
Packers Make Headlines for All the Wrong Reasons
Unlike Favre and Rodgers, Jordan Love has not reached those two guys’ heights. His first season started slow but gained steam in the second half, with some Rodgers-like numbers. Last year, however, an injury suffered on the final play in Week 1 prevented him from hitting the ground running.
Now, he will be sidelined once again. On Tuesday, the news broke about him missing some valuable practice time due to an injury.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Tuesday, “Packers QB Jordan Love, who is undergoing a procedure on a ligament issue with his left thumb, suffered the injury in Green Bay’s preseason opener. The team is hoping Love can return to practice next week, and the Packers expect him to be ready for the regular-season opener.”
It is the non-throwing hand for the right-handed quarterback and shouldn’t prevent him from suiting up in four weeks. Still, missing a week (or more) of practice time, including this week’s critical joint practices isn’t ideal, especially for a team that was shaky at the wide receiver position last year (with drops everywhere).
Furthermore, a new receiver is in town with first-rounder Matthew Golden. The speedster, who has turned some heads early in his Packers career, needs to build a connection with his new passer, but that can’t happen without reps. Those concerns are just as valid as Minnesota’s during the absence of Justin Jefferson from practice. Without catching passes from J.J. McCarthy, how do they build a rapport?
Vikings Territory’s Dustin Baker even drew a comparison between the two passers to demonstrate that the “minor” injury is notable. “For context, imagine if Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy had a bad thumb and underwent a small procedure to fix it, with the regular season afoot. Fans might lose their minds. That’s where the Packers are at right now, merely hoping that the ‘little procedure’ description is accurate.”
Love is coming off a season with 3,389 passing yards as well as 25 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 15 games. In his first year starting, Love dropped 4,159 yards through the air and 32 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. Prior to that, he had to wait for his turn for three seasons.
Those numbers and the advanced statistics show that Love is a good quarterback, but not (yet) a great one like his two predecessors, with a sure-fire Hall of Fame career waiting for him. In fact, those are very much Kirk Cousins-like numbers. That helped Minnesota’s ex-passer to four Pro Bowls and some nice cash throughout his career, but it was not enough to carry any team to the Super Bowl. Rodgers and Favre were always a threat in any given year.
If Love were to miss some time in the regular season, the Packers would turn to Malik Willis, a 2022 third-rounder of the Tennessee Titans, whom Green Bay traded for a year ago, which might have turned his career around. Willis had a couple of decent games in place of Love in 2024, primarily by using his athleticism. His arm can’t nearly do what Love’s can.
Matched up against Brian Flores and the Vikings, Love went 1-1 against the Vikings in 2023 (the win was with Jaren Hall starting), and lost both games last year. In each of those 2024 contests, Love started slowly, but when facing big deficits, the Packers allowed him to use his arm and turn into a gunslinger, which gave the Vikings some problems. Both games turned out to be close, with the purple team trying to manage the game and the green team trying to put up big numbers in the second half.
Either way, Green Bay’s season is certainly not over because their signal-caller is missing a week or two in August. It is noteworthy, though, as passing attacks build their foundation in training camp.
Love will turn 27 in November. He’s under contract for four more seasons.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Pro Football Reference helped with this article.