Jordan Love’s return couldn’t have gone much worse for him or the Packers.
Vibes were pretty close to immaculate ahead of the Green Bay Packers’ Week 4 showdown against the Minnesota Vikings. Not only did they win both of their games without Jordan Love, but they were set to get their star quarterback back from injury in time for their early-season big game.
A quick glance at the box score would suggest that Love’s return was a successful one. He completed 32 passes, threw for 389 yards, and had four touchdown passes. The Packers scored 29 points against a tough Vikings defense. Unfortunately, the bad outshined the good in what was a frustrating loss.
He completed 32 passes but did so in 54 attempts, completing just 59.2 percent of his throws. He threw for 389 yards, but many of them came in the fourth quarter with the Packers trailing big. He threw for four touchdowns, but three of them came in that same fourth quarter.
Love had some good moments, and even made things somewhat interesting down the stretch. The Packers might’ve even won the game had Brayden Narveson made one of the two field goal attempts that he missed. Still, they lost, and he looked far from the star that he was for much of the 2023 campaign.
To make matters worse, Love’s rust and the loss to their division rivals weren’t even the worst things to come from Sunday’s frustrating loss. The worst thing that came about was the injury suffered by Christian Watson.
Packers loss highlighted by Jordan Love’s struggles and another injury
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Watson suffered a high ankle sprain during Sunday’s loss. That injury not only forced him to make an early exit from the game but is also expected to knock him out for multiple weeks.
The Packers dodged a bullet with the injury not being as serious as it appeared, but still, losing Watson for any amount of time is a blow.
Injuries have befuddled Watson through his first three NFL seasons, but when he’s on the field, he’s incredibly talented and a dynamic big-play threat at any moment. With him out of action, Love will likely rely even more on Jayden Reed, their No. 1 receiver, who happened to have 139 yards and a touchdown on Sunday. Guys like Dontayvion Wicks and Romeo Doubs will be asked to step up as well.
There’s every reason to believe that as long as he can stay healthy, Love will be fine. He’s too talented of a player not to be. The injury to Watson, though, takes away part of what can make this Packers offense so scary. They don’t have a star receiver, but have several quality receivers, making them tough to defend. Hopefully, Watson can find a way to make a quick recovery just like Love did.