Progress is not necessarily linear. The Green Bay Packers’ young team demonstrated Super Bowl promise a year ago, which has led to rising expectations this season. They only grew stronger after the Packers signed Jordan Love to a $220 million extension.
Aside from Josh Jacobs’ impact on the run game, the Packers’ offensive did not make the strides that many anticipated. Love did not take the next step.
The season was a two-part story. Love battled ailments during the first eight games, but he demonstrated his skill as a playmaker with 16 touchdown passes. The problem was that he also threw eleven interceptions. He ultimately cleaned up the turnovers, going interception-free in the final seven games, but it came at the sacrifice of his big-time plays, as he threw only nine touchdowns.
In the postseason loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the worst of both worlds met. The passing offense was hopelessly out of sync, and turnovers resumed, with Love throwing for 212 yards, zero touchdowns, and three interceptions.
This leaves Love and the Packers with more problems than answers heading into the offseason.
Matt LaFleur must figure out how Jordan Love can reach the next level by 2025.
Love is not going away. Last offseason, the Packers committed to him for the long term, and with good cause. He is still the franchise quarterback. After the game, head coach Matt LaFleur lauded Love while emphasizing the need for continued improvement.
“I admire Jordan Love’s competitive spirit and hard work. “I believe he’ll continue to improve,” LaFleur added. “There are certain lessons to be learned along the way, especially when you lose. That’s difficult to deal with. He is extremely critical of himself. He does an excellent job of learning from each encounter. I believe we will all benefit from this experience.”
That last part is essential. LaFleur must reflect on the season, figure out what went wrong, and devise a strategy to help Love progress to the next level.
LaFleur switched to a run-heavy approach as the season continued. Love averaged 32.1 pass attempts in his first eight games, but only 24 in the last seven. Was this injury-related? Did LaFleur lose faith in Love because he turned the ball over so frequently?
Whatever the cause, his solution proved ineffective. The Packers became too much of a dink-and-dunk, run-at-all-costs offensive, which stopped Love from making the miraculous huge plays we’ve come to expect. According to Pro Football Focus, Love’s number of big-time throws has decreased from 37 in 2023 to only 16 this season.
LaFleur and Love must work together to determine the nature of the offense. For example, their usage of play-action was puzzling. In theory, relying on Josh Jacobs should have resulted in more explosive passing plays.
Instead, Love declined in this regard. According to PFF, Love attempted 58 fewer play-action passes, scored half as many touchdowns (12 to 6), and saw his completion percentage drop from 72.2 to 61.3. The most perplexing takeaway is that the Packers abandoned play-action in a season when it should have worked flawlessly.
Love also carried over numerous aggravating tendencies from last season, such as throwing off his back foot when he had the opportunity to step into throws.
The Packers’ next move could be to find a new wide receiver. None of the Packers’ outstanding young players broke out this season, and general manager Brian Gutekunst may have to emphasize the position.
Love possesses the potential to become an outstanding quarterback, but he is not there yet. Progress isn’t always linear, as the Packers discovered this season, and it’s certainly not time to give up.
It is now on to LaFleur to help his quarterback go to the next level.
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