The most likely outcome for the Green Bay Packers this week is that Jordan Love sits out with his sprained MCL. Malik Willis would start in his place.
But the fact that Packers coach Matt LaFleur did not rule out Love playing in Week 2 has to be some positive news for Green Bay fans hoping their quarterback returns soon.
LaFleur said the door is still open for Love to play this week against the Indianapolis Colts.
“I’d say it’s pretty open,” LaFleur said in his Wednesday news conference.
LaFleur also said on Monday that he wouldn’t rule Love out for Week 2.
Realistically, it’s hard to imagine the Packers putting their $220 million quarterback on the field nine days after he suffered a sprained MCL. The initial reports on his diagnosis said he was likely to miss 3-to-6 weeks. It’s not outrageous to believe Love could play, but the question would be if the Packers were putting him at more risk, and if he could be effective at far less than 100%.
“He’s got to be cleared, we’ve got to feel like he can protect himself and he’s got to be confident enough to go out there and do that,” LaFleur said. “Until that happens, we’re not even going to think about that.”
The problem is the Packers have to be worried about what things will look like when Love returns. They’re already 0-1. They play in a very tough division. And Willis hasn’t had any success throwing the ball in the regular season.
Willis has a career passer rating of 48.7 and a 52.2% completion percentage. On top of those struggles, he’s practically brand new to the Packers. The Packers and Tennessee Titans agreed to a trade that sent Willis to Green Bay on Aug. 27. That’s not much time to learn an offense.
LaFleur didn’t seem worried about that on Wednesday.
“It’s not like we’re dealing with a rookie here who has no background,” LaFleur said. “A lot of these offenses do similar things, it’s just how do you do them, when do you do them, who are you putting where.”
The best-case scenario might be that Love doesn’t miss too much time. If the Packers are still holding out hope for him playing in Week 2, that provides optimism he returns in September, maybe as soon as Week 3. Until then, the Packers will try to stay afloat. Perhaps Love will shock everyone and be ready to start on Sunday. LaFleur isn’t ruling it out.