Jordan Love vs. Vikings: Too Inaccurate, Too Inconsistent; Too Little, Too Late

In his big comeback game from a knee injury, Jordan Love threw for 389 yards and three touchdowns but his inconsistent play doomed the Packers in their loss to the Vikings.

Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jonathan Bullard pressures Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love on Sunday. / Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Jordan Love looked a lot like a quarterback who had missed the last two games and had limited practice time the past few weeks.

He also looked too much like the deep-shot throwing, risk-taking, inconsistent quarterback from the first half of last season.

With Love sputtering through his comeback game, the Packers couldn’t quite come back from a 28-0 deficit and lost 31-29 to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday at Lambeau Field.

Love was 32-of-54 passing for 389 yards and four touchdowns. He had seven completions of 20-plus yards.

He also threw three interceptions and was off-target too often.

It was the type of all-or-nothing that doomed the Packers through last year’s 3-6 start. Just enough big plays to keep it close. Not enough consistency to win.

“I just wasn’t playing well enough,” Love said. “I think ball placement was a little all over the place today, kind of throughout the whole game, and I think it picked up later. Yeah, I think early on just missed a couple throws and was a little bit off and made it hard on some of the receivers on some of those plays.”

On Green Bay’s first possession, with the Vikings already leading 7-0, Love had Dontayvion Wicks running open across the middle on third-and-13. A catchable, in-stride pass would have left Wicks one-on-one on a race to the end zone. Instead, the ball was too low and too far in front of Wicks and he couldn’t make the catch.

On Green Bay’s second possession, with the Vikings up 14-0, Love on third-and-7 forced one over the middle to Christian Watson. The pass was intercepted and Watson suffered an ankle injury that ended his day.

“I didn’t see him and threw it into traffic right there, and he made a really good play on that one,” Love said. “One of those things, you just got to be able to see him and get a completion and go somewhere else with the ball right there.”

On Green Bay’s fourth possession, with the Vikings up 21-0, Love’s pass to Romeo Doubs went through Luke Musgrave’s hands before hitting Doubs and intercepted by Shaq Griffin. That set up the Vikings at Green Bay’s 4 to extend the lead to 28-0.

At least the Packers scored before halftime, a superior throw from Love to Jayden Reed for a 15-yard touchdown, to show a pulse.

However, on Green Bay’s first drive of the second half, Love’s third-down conversion to Wicks was overturned by replay because Love’s throw was too low and Wicks couldn’t secure the grab before it hit the turf.

One drive later, with the Packers on the outskirts of scoring position, Tucker Kraft was flagged for holding. On first-and-18 from the Vikings’ 42, Love’s bomb to Bo Melton was almost intercepted by Josh Metellus. On second down, Love’s screen to an on-the-move Reed was too low and incomplete; because Reed had to stop to try to make the catch, he might have lost yards, anyway. On fourth-and-8 from the 32, Love’s bomb to Wicks was thrown too late, which allowed Griffin to range over and perhaps impact Wicks, who couldn’t make the grab in the end zone.

But Love got rolling in the fourth quarter. A 28-yard completion to Melton set up Love’s 6-yard touchdown pass to Wicks. After a sack-strip by Keisean Nixon set up Green Bay at the Vikings’ 20, Tucker Kraft turned a short pass into a 13-yard touchdown.

Just like that, it was 28-22, and the Packers had a life.

But the defense played like a defense without Jaire Alexander. Justin Jefferson’s catches of 17 and 27 yards gave the Vikings a 31-22 lead with 6:50 to go.

Love had to get aggressive but was too overaggressive. With Harrison Smith bearing down on a safety blitz, there was no reason to throw a first-down bomb to Wicks. But that was the decision, and Byron Murphy grabbed the interception.

“I felt Smith coming off the edge and tried to just throw one up and let Wicks be able to make a play, and the timing was off,” Love said. “I was obviously really early getting the ball out, so he wasn’t expecting it at that time and he never really got his eyes around to be able to see it, and the DB tracked it the whole way.

“So, one of those critical mistakes that got to be able to see the all-out (blitz) or just throw the ball away or take care of the ball better.”

That was the type of late-game blunder that cost him and the team too often last year.

“Obviously, I’m not fine with that,” coach Matt LaFleur said of the decision. “We never want to just throw a ball up like that. But I do think he believes and has faith in our receivers.”

The Packers scored a touchdown on their final drive, with Love going 4-for-4 for 90 yards and the 17-yard scoring strike to Wicks.

The Vikings recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.

“I did not play well enough,” Love said, “and accuracy was a little bit off, a little bit shaky, and it was definitely making it hard on some of the guys, which just led to us getting off the field early and not being able to put up points. So, got in a hole.”

Love was 20-of-30 passing for 271 yards in the second half, including 202 yards in the fourth quarter, but the Vikings no doubt will see a lot of fluff given their lead on the scoreboard.

“As the game went, it seemed to me that he looked more and more comfortable,” LaFleur said.

While Love only was sacked once, the Vikings piled up 10 quarterback hits.

Love said his injured left knee “felt fine” despite getting knocked around, including a third-down scramble that left him pain and stretching it out between plays.

“I hope not,” he said when asked if the injury might impact him the rest of the season. “I hope it’ll continue to heal and get better but, at this moment, yeah, it’s definitely something that’s there. It’s one of those things. It’s football. We play a physical sport and there’s injuries and you got to fight through some stuff.”

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From @JoeyVZ_

The #Packers rolled like a boulder through a treacherous hill, lowering themselves into the coffin, seeing glimpses of life, fully reviving themselves before they plummeted back into their grave in the 31-29 loss.https://t.co/fN53RbCthe

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) September 29, 2024

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