Packer Central

Jordan Love Arrives in Style to Lambeau to Face Vikings

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love arrived at Lambeau Field on Sunday wearing a Brett Favre jersey. Here’s why.

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers QB Jordan Love
Green Bay Packers QB Jordan Love / Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers quarterback didn’t just make a fashion statement when he arrived at Lambeau Field on Sunday to face the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

He made a statement, period.

Love wore a Brett Favre jersey as he strode through the team’s parking garage. Earlier this week when he testified to Congress about welfare reform, Favre said he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.

“Sadly, I also lost an investment in a company that I believed was developing a breakthrough concussion drug I thought would help others,” he said during his opening remarks. “And I’m sure you’ll understand why it’s too late for me, because I’ve recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. This is also a cause dear to my heart.”

Love was asked about Favre on Wednesday, a day after Favre’s testimony.

“I did see the news, and I’ll definitely be praying for Brett,” Love said. “That’s a very tough situation. I think in terms of playing the ball, taking hits to the head, it’s one of those things that we know the risks as players, we know what we signed up for, and it’s out there.

“But it’s one of those things you don’t think about as a player; you just go out there and play and give it your all, give it your best and just leave it all on the field.”

The news caught safety Xavier McKinney by surprise.

“Oh, wow. I did not see that,” he said. “I hate to hear that and I’m praying for him, praying for his family. It always kind of sucks to hear things like that. All I can do is pray for him, pray for his family and send out my condolences.”

Favre, who thought he suffered more than 1,000 concussions during his playing career, said he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in January. Afterward, he met with several specialists.

“They all said the same thing,” Favre told TMZ. “‘If it's not in your family’ – and there's none on either side of my family – ‘then the first thing we look at is head trauma.’ Well, hell, I wrote the book on head trauma.”

In a study published in the Family Medicine and Community Health in 2020, a single concussion increased the likelihood of Parkinson’s by 57 percent.

Whether it’s new kickoff rules or new helmets, the league has tried to take some of the risk of concussions out of the game.

“I think the league just keeps implementing rules to try to keep us as safe as possible,” McKinney said. “You’ve seen with the head guards, you’ve seen defensively with the tackling and trying to keep people out of harm’s way as much as possible. Obviously, there’s only so much you can really do in a contact support but I think they’ve done a great job of trying to limit some of the injuries and different things that can have later affects in life.”

Favre, of course, closed his career with the Minnesota Vikings, who Love will face on Sunday. The final play of Favre’s career was a concussion sustained against the Bears on Dec. 20, 2010.

Aaron Rodgers succeeded Favre in Green Bay.

“I feel bad for him and [Favre’s wife] Deanna, but it's unfortunately part of our game,” Rodgers told reporters in New York this week. “It’s part of the risk of playing, and we all in the back of our mind know that that could be a reality at some point. We just kind of hope medicine at some point can catch up and either make the symptoms easier or eradicate some of these issues that we have.”

More Green Bay Packers News

Jordan Love is back | Cornerbacks elevated | Packers-Vikings: Reasons why they’ll lose | Packers-Vikings: Reasons why they’ll win | Packers-Vikings Friday injury report | NFC North power rankings | Mark Bavaro? Yes, Mark Bavaro | Xavier McKinney worth every penny | Jordan Love limited, with a twist | Grab an aspirin | “New” player on practice squad | A lot of love for Aaron Jones | Vikings’ Brian Flores raves about Matt LaFleur | Aaron Jones says thank you | Packers and penalties: Do they matter? | How to watch and what to watch | Packers-Vikings matchups

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.