Following the Packers’ Week 1 loss, head coach Matt LaFleur simply said, “I don’t know” when asked about the condition of his franchise quarterback. Love was hit by two Eagles defenders simultaneously on the final drive of the game. While there has been little news on Love, video showed his leg popping on the inside of his left knee.
Now Green Bay realizes the severity of the situation and must quickly decide on a quarterback plan for the first home game in Week 2 against the Indianapolis Colts, plus the many games Love misses after that.
Next on the list is Malik Willis, who replaced Love on the final two plays of the game. He threw an incomplete pass and was sacked on the final snap of the game. Willis was acquired via trade from the Tennessee Titans less than two weeks earlier as the Packers’ backup options, Sean Clifford and rookie Michael Pratt, struggled in the preseason. Willis and Clifford are Green Bay’s current options following Love’s injury.
Willis, a third-round pick of the Titans for 2022, appeared in his 12thth NFL game on Friday. He has started three times in his NFL career and has thrown for 350 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions.
Love threw 260 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in his first game of the 2024 season.
Love, 25, is coming off his first year as the Packers’ starter since being selected in the first round in 2021. Love struggled early in the 2023 season but later hit his stride, finishing the season with 4,159 yards, 32 touchdowns and 11 INTs as he led Green Bay to the playoffs and spearheaded an upset win over the Dallas Cowboys in the Wild Card Round.
Love’s rise was so impressive that he received a contract extension that gave him the highest contract value in league history, while still keeping hope alive for a successful 2024 season, with the Packers considered heavy favorites to make the Super Bowl.
Those carefully thought-out plans became even more difficult to execute in the final seconds of the first week, but Love will have something to say about them when he returns.
