It’s Almost Time For The Green Bay Packers To Find Out If Jordan Love Can Play

Aaron Rodgers won’t like it.

Matt LaFleur might not find it ideal, either.

But if Green Bay loses at Philadelphia Sunday night, “Love Story” should be the Packers’ theme song the final month of the season.

Jordan Love, Green Bay’s first round draft pick in 2020, has spent nearly three seasons with his tail planted on the pine. The Packers must decide this offseason whether to pick up Love’s fifth-year option.

Right now, the Packers don’t have nearly enough information on Love to make a decision of that magnitude. And nothing could be more painful than trading Love, then watching him blossom into a start.

So if the Packers fall to 4-8 — which would virtually eliminate them from playoff contention — “Let There Be Love” needs to reign from the speakers inside 1265 Lombardi Ave. General manager Brian Gutekunst owes that to the organization and the fan base — even if it might irritate his head coach and franchise quarterback.

“Lose, and you might as well start planning your trip to wherever you’re going in the offseason,” Packers cornerback Rasul Douglas said this week. “That’s the mindset here.”

And that’s the mindset Green Bay still should have.

Green Bay entered Week 12 tied for 11^th place in the NFC, 2 ½ games behind Seattle for the seventh and final spot in the postseason. According to the website footballoutsiders.com, the Packers have a 7.5% chance of making the playoffs.

While those odds are miniscule, they’re comparable to the 2016 season when Green Bay was 4-6 through 10 games and Rodgers boldly proclaimed, “I feel like we can run the table.” Of course, those Packers did exactly that and eventually reached the NFC Championship Game before losing to Atlanta.

That team had Jordy Nelson, Davante Adams and a much younger Randall Cobb playing wide receiver, though. And most importantly, it had a healthy Rodgers.

Rodgers revealed on Wednesday that the thumb he injured in a Week 5 loss to the New York Giants is actually broken. And while Rodgers wouldn’t use the injury as an excuse, it’s undoubtedly affected him, most notably in a Week 11 loss to Tennessee.

“I think I’ve had worse injuries I’ve played with,” Rodgers said. “So, you know, definitely a challenge, but the days off (after the Tennessee game) helped.”

Rodgers turns 39 next week.

He’ll be a first ballot Hall of Famer. He’s one of the top 15 quarterbacks in NFL history. And he’s running out of rodeos.

But if Rodgers and the Packers lose at Philadelphia (9-1) Sunday — which would leave their postseason odds somewhere between infinitesimal and microscopic — it’s time for the question “I Wanna Know What Love Is?” to finally be answered.

Gutekunst, of course, traded up in the 2020 draft and selected Love with the 26^th overall selection. It was a bold, courageous move that the ultra-conservative Packers typically don’t make.

Love’s physical characteristics and arm strength had quarterback-needy teams salivating before the 2020 draft.

Scouts that were enamored with Love raved about his arm talent, his ability to throw from several angles, his nifty touch on deep balls and his extremely large hands. Love has prototypical size (6-foot-4, 219), a world of confidence and terrific scrambling ability.

On the flip side, Love’s accuracy and reckless decision making in 2019 had many scouts equally terrified. During Love’s final year in college, he threw 17 interceptions and had three picks returned for touchdowns.

Love seemed to lack anticipation during his final college season and was slow in his reads. Love also has a long windup, will stare receivers down and his accuracy declined.

Gutekunst thought the good outweighed the bad, though, and stuck out his neck to draft Love.

“We thought he had the kind of skill set that could play up here and will have a chance to be a pretty solid quarterback in the National Football League,” Gutekunst said the night he drafted Love. “We know how important that position is and I just think whenever you get an opportunity to add a player to that position you have to consider it. And we did.”

The problem is 2 ½ years later, Gutekunst & Co. still don’t know what they have in Love. So if the Packers — who are a 7-point underdog at Philadelphia — fall to 4-8 Sunday, it’s time to start finding out.

Love had a truncated offseason during his rookie year in 2020 due to COVID-19. Preseason games — which could have been enormous for Love’s growth — were later canceled. And eventually, Love was inactive for all 18 of Green Bay’s games.

Most of Love’s work in 2021 came in two games — one against Kansas City after Rodgers contracted COVID and another at Detroit in Week 18 after the Packers had already clinched the NFC’s No. 1 seed.

Love was 36-of-62 for 411 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions in those two games. Love finished with a 68.7 passer rating and Green Bay lost both contests.

This season, Love has thrown just nine passes in mop-up duty and his career passer rating is 71.6.

“He’s a great kid. He really is,” Rodgers said of Love after the 2021 season. “He cares about it. He works his butt off. He asks good questions. He’s got a great, wry sense of humor. He’s a quiet kid, but I respect that. I was a quiet kid as a young player too. I really enjoy his personality. I enjoy his friendship and we have a lot of fun together.”

Love’s path to the field was blocked for the foreseeable future, though, when Rodgers signed a three-year, $150.8 million contract extension last offseason. Unless Rodgers retires or asks for a trade this offseason, the Packers can’t afford to keep both quarterbacks for much longer.

Love’s rookie contract was four years and $12.4 million. He counts just $3.94 million against the salary cap next season.

But this offseason, the Packers must decide whether to pick up Love’s fifth-year option for the 2024 campaign. That cost would likely be in the $20 million range.

So the most important development in Green Bay next month could be discovering whether or not Love can play.

Love looked better this offseason and summer than any point during his three seasons in Green Bay. But until the Packers see him for an extended period against No. 1 defenses, they can’t be positive in what they have — or don’t have — with Love.

“I think he’s progressing nicely,” Gutekunst said of Love this summer. “I think he’s taken some really significant steps, not only in the offense and his confidence in it but … seeing things before they happen, which I think is important.

“So I think he’s just got to continue to do that and start to recognize the different situations in game and making those decisions. What I think he’s doing, and I know you guys have seen it too, I think he’s recognizing things faster and letting the ball rip.”

The next step is seeing if Love can do it in games that matter.

If Love shines, the Packers could pick up his fifth-year option this offseason, confident that their future quarterback is on the roster. If he flops, Green Bay could pass on the fifth-year option and trade Love this offseason before he hits free agency.

It’s not often the Packers find themselves with no hope of the postseason in December. The last time Green Bay was 4-8 was 2006 — which is just where these Packers will be if they lose Sunday.

So the opportunity to get answers on Love — and several other young players for that matter — is one the organization can’t waste.

Rodgers might put up a fight and be tough to get off the field. But his broken thumb makes this a perfect time for him to call it a season.

LaFleur, who’s always thinking micro, might not care for the macro approach.

But this is a Gutekunst decision.

And it’s almost time to find out if Gutekunst should be “Addicted to Love” or if this was always a case of “Tainted Love.”