Packers QB Jordan Love should benefit from what he battled through against the Vikings

GREEN BAY – The good news is that despite taking a painful hit during a second-quarter scramble, Packers quarterback Jordan Love’s injured knee appears to have come through Sunday’s game no worse for wear.

“He’s a heck of a competitor,” head coach Matt LaFleur said.

The bad news is that Love will be playing the what-if game in his head for a day or two before he can shake off the 31-29 loss to the Vikings at Lambeau Field.

Despite all the ways the Minnesota defense tried to confuse Love with looks, bluffs, blitzes and balls to take advantage of his two-week layoff, there were plays coming early as the Packers fell behind significantly. But Love’s accuracy was “shaky,” likely due to rust.

“The ball placement was a little mixed up today,” Love admitted. “I think things got better later on, but in the beginning we just missed a few shots and were a little off. That made it difficult for some receivers.”

Those slightly missed throws, mostly to Dontayvion Wicks and Romeo Doubs, were still catchable but were not caught. So to be fair, the throws could have been better and the catches still could have been made.

However, the biggest regret came midway through the fourth quarter.

Trailing 31-22, the Packers had a first down at the Minnesota 34-yard line after Wicks scored a 36-yard completion early in the drive. A field goal or touchdown on that possession would have made it a one-score game again, and the Packers had all three timeouts to use on defense if needed.

But the Vikings confused Love’s mind at just the right (for them) and wrong (for him) times.

On all the occasions where Minnesota had flashed and retreated, this time veteran safety Harrison Smith got to Love unblocked. Love was in uptempo mode, so he didn’t use his rhythm to force the Vikings to show their hand, but simply took the risk.

As Smith approached him, Love threw a deep ball into the end zone for Wicks, but he was unable to catch it. Cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. played well behind Wicks, got to the ball first and intercepted the ball uncontested.

Officially it wasn’t the final kiss of death for the comeback, but given the situation, it was the most devastating.

“We were moving fast and they caught me right away and hit a bullseye (blitz),” Love said, handing the proverbial cap to Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores.

“They had everyone at the line of scrimmage and stayed back there for the most part, and that was the one time they did it. In this case, I could just throw the ball away, throw it out of bounds and live to fight another day.

It was reminiscent of the unnecessary heroic play he tried to make late in the playoff loss to the 49ers in late January, also on first down. This also led to an interception that would have had a chance to save the drive if the ball was protected.

In this case, Love had also changed Wicks’ approach from “Out” to “Go,” and the play had no hot reads or other options, leaving him in no man’s land, not believing that the lightning would actually come.

“One of those critical errors,” he said. “You have to be able to see the whole thing.”