Packers waste an opportunity to usher in the Jordan Love era

The Green Bay Packers wasted a chance to determine whether Jordan Love is their quarterback of the future.

The Green Bay Packers are sitting at 4-7 on the season, not exactly the regular-season juggernauts like they were in year’s past. Obviously, the Packers don’t have the same wide receiver room, which contributed to the lack of explosiveness. As it turns out, quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been dealing with an injury for quite some time.

This Wednesday, Rodgers confirmed that he had suffered a broken right thumb on the final play of the team’s Week 5 game against the New York Giants, and has played through it ever since.

While it’s hard to keep Rodgers off the football field due to his competitiveness, this was actually an opportunity wasted by the Packers. If they had sat Rodgers to heal up, it could have given the team a chance to further evaluate Jordan Love.

Packers waste chance to further evaluate Jordan Love ahead of pivotal offseason decision

In the 2020 NFL Draft, the Packers traded up to the No. 26 spot to select Love out of Utah State. It was quite obvious with this selection that the team was preparing for Rodgers’ eventual exit, whether it was through free agency, trade, or retirement at the time.

Love started just one game over the years, and that was in 2021 when Rodgers was sidelined after testing positive for COVID-19. In that game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Love completed 19-of-34 pass attempts for 190 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Besides this game, no other starts for Love.

Getting Love some additional looks is extremely important, because they have a big decision to make after this season. Since Love will be finishing his third season, the Packers have to decide whether to exercise his fifth-year option, which could become very costly. They can choose to pick up the hefty price tag, or decline it to allow Love to potentially walk after the 2023 season.

There’s the possibility that Love could get some starts at the end of the season if the Packers are eliminated from playoff contention. Regardless, they missed out on a potential evaluation process following Rodgers’ thumb injury.