Nineteen days after the Green Bay Packers completed a trade for Malik Willis, the former Tennessee Titans quarterback stepped into a starting role and helped the Packers beat the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at Lambeau Field.
Willis said he found out he was starting in place of Jordan Love (knee) on Saturday. A day later, Willis completed 12 of 14 passes, averaged 8.7 yards per attempt, threw a third-down touchdown pass, rushed for 41 yards and didn’t have a turnover or take a sack in the Packers’ 16-10 win over the Colts in the home opener. His passer rating was 126.8.
Simply executing the offense — which featured complex run calls — was difficult enough. While Willis wasn’t asked to do a lot as a passer, he got the Packers in and out of the huddle, made plays that were there and avoided mistakes.
“I don’t think you guys can appreciate or even comprehend the task that Malk Willis…this guy got here three weeks ago,” coach Matt LaFleur said Sunday. “For him to go out there and command our offense, we still had a lot of long calls, we had shifts, motions, a ton of different run schemes. There was a lot put on his plate. And for him to go out there and do what he did today, I think that speaks volumes of who he is as a person and the work he put him. I’m just super proud of him.”
While the Packers ran the ball at will early, the quarterback still had to make plays. Willis hit Dontayvion Wicks for a 14-yard touchdown pass on 3rd-and-4, beating Kenny Moore on an out-breaking route. Later, he found Tucker Kraft for 17 yards and Romeo Doubs for 39 yards to convert third downs on scoring drives.
By game’s end, the Packers had 53 rushing attempts and only 14 passing attempts, harkening memories of the ruthless gameplan used by the San Francisco 49ers to beat the Packers in the 2019 NFC title game. LaFleur protected Willis with a consistently dominant, ball-control run game, and the Packers defense — which didn’t allow a point until deep into the third quarter — played its part in not putting added pressure on the offense. When the situation asked for it, Willis sprinkled in a few big plays.
Learning a new offense in full takes months, if not years. Willis, who spent the summer attempting to win the backup job in Tennessee, arrived in Green Bay 10 days before the season opener and 19 days before his first start. Given a week with first-team reps to prepare for Sunday, Willis played fast and under control despite calling and operating a dense gameplan featuring a bunch of new run concepts.
The Packers had 10 possessions on Sunday: Four ended in scores, one ended in a fumble at the goal line, one ended the first half and one ended in a missed field goal. The offense went three-and-out just twice. Had Josh Jacobs not fumbled on the third possession and Brayden Narveson connected on a 45-yard field goal, the Packers would have scored 26 points and likely cruised to a comfortable win.
More than anything, Willis accomplished what any backup quarterback must do to help a team win a football game: He avoided the game-changing mistakes that lose games and allowed all the talent around him to propel a much-needed victory.
The Packers had a big question mark at backup quarterback entering 2024. Could Sean Clifford or Michael Pratt win a game if Love went down? The Packers didn’t know the answer, so they went out and got Willis at final cuts. It didn’t take long for the move to pay off.