Aaron Rodgers wants to play as long as the Green Bay Packers are still mathematically alive, but the truth is that Jordan Love’s long-awaited opportunity as the starting quarterback should be rapidly approaching.
Rodgers, who turns 39 years old this week, might want to play through his thumb and ribs injuries on Sunday against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. Fine. The four-time MVP should get another shot at his biggest rival in the city he owns while the Packers aren’t yet officially eliminated from postseason contention.
But after Sunday, and win or lose, it will be difficult to justify not starting Love over the final five games of the 2022 season.
The Packers have eight losses, are three full games behind in the win column in the race for a wild card spot and possess something like a three percent chance of making the playoffs. Even a five-game winning streak to end this season isn’t likely to get a playoff spot.
Playing Love over the final five games – coming out of the bye week in Week 14, of course – can provide important things, like a real chance to evaluate the third-year quarterback over a realistic in-game sample size, or the opportunity for Love to increase his long-term value in Green Bay or elsewhere. And even if Love plays poorly, the Packers would by default improve their place in the 2023 draft without losing much of anything else.
Love looked poised, confident and decisive over two series against the Eagles on Sunday night. He threw well from the pocket, attacked the intermediate areas of the field, had a big-time throw dropped by Aaron Jones and even extended a few plays under pressure. His two drives under center netted 10 points and kept the Packers in the game until the final drive.
Two series does not make a career, but it was hard to watch Love operate against a top NFC East foe in a relief appearance and not think of what Rodgers did 15 years ago in Dallas in a similar situation. That performance, during a primetime game against Tony Romo and the Cowboys in 2007, was the jumping-off point for what has become a Hall of Fame career as Brett Favre’s successor.
Who knows where Love’s career will go from here, but the Packers need to know more. The team must make a decision on his fifth-year option this coming offseason, and with Rodgers’ football career uncertain past 2022, all options remain on the table.
A lost season can still have value down the stretch for the Packers. A month or more of Love starting games would be infinitely more valuable than Rodgers staggering his way through wins or losses that don’t really matter in Green Bay, and that’s probably true whether Rodgers returns in 2023 or not.
The veteran needs to heal his thumb and his ribs. The youngster needs to play.
This is the ideal exit ramp for the Packers. The season is all but lost, Rodgers is dealing with two painful injuries and Love is coming off his best-ever regular-season appearance.
The outcomes are largely all good: either Love plays well and proves to the Packers that he’s a legitimate starting option for 2023, or he doesn’t and the Packers get value via an improved draft pick – possibly in the top 10 or better – come April – and the information acquired on what’s needed long-term at the quarterback position.
Rodgers is going to fight it all until the Packers are officially out, but Jordan Love’s opportunity to be the starting quarterback in Green Bay is almost certainly a matter of when, not if.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbxb1xg7g19wqdc player_id=none image=https://packerswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]