Packer Central

With Expectation Malik Willis Will Start, Packers Underdogs vs. Titans

The Green Bay Packers earned an upset win over the Colts with Malik Willis starting for injured Jordan Love. They might have to do it again on Sunday at the Tennessee Titans.

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers quarterback Malik Willis (2) passes the ball against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at Lambeau Field.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Malik Willis (2) passes the ball against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at Lambeau Field. / Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Last week, even as Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur kept hope alive that Jordan Love would be available, sportsbooks expected Malik Willis would be the quarterback against Indianapolis.

That’s why the line didn’t move after Love was downgraded from questionable to doubtful on Saturday.

Sportsbooks are expecting Willis to start against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday in Nashville, as well.

The winless Titans are 2.5-point favorites against the Packers at FanDuel Sportsbook.

With backup Malik Willis facing struggling Will Levis, only Chargers-Steelers has a lower over/under (35.5 points) than Packers-Titans (36.5 points). Willis led the Packers to a 16-10 win over the Colts on Sunday – a total of 26 points.

Love’s potential return this week will be a huge storyline. Willis’ potential start against the Titans will be an interesting story, as well.

Willis was a third-round pick by the Titans in 2022. He started three games as a rookie but didn’t reach 100 passing yards or throw a touchdown pass in any of those games. In 2023, the Titans drafted Will Levis. In 2024, the Titans signed veteran Mason Rudolph in free agency and traded Willis to the Packers for a seventh-round pick at the end of training camp.

Willis said he didn’t know the Packers would play the Titans until he looked at the schedule after the trade.

Is he a chip-on-the-shoulder kind of player?

“Nah, I don’t need all that to keep going,” he said after Sunday’s game. “I just continue to be grateful for the opportunity I’m given. I’m blessed with another, however long I’m here, however many opportunities I get, and that’s all I’m concerned about is continuing to work hard and be ready when another opportunity comes.”

One thing that impressed the players during the game was Willis’ demeanor. Even in a challenging moment of trying to run an offense he had only started learning two-and-a-half weeks earlier, he was calm in the huddle and played with poise.

So, how would he feel about playing his former team?

“I don’t know,” he said. “Normal. I just try to prepare as a starter each week. That’s my job. I just try to not focus on who we’re playing more than the game plan and what we’re trying to do, what we’re trying to accomplish, and that’s get another ‘W’.

Willis wasn’t sure if his experience in Tennessee would offer any advantage.

“I didn’t watch their last game, so I have no clue.”

Willis played as well as could be expected vs. the Colts, given the circumstances. He was 12-of-14 passing with his first career touchdown pass. He wasn’t close to making a critical mistake.

After posting passer ratings of 35.4, 49.0 and 34.5 in his three starts as a rookie, Willis delivered a sparkling 126.8 vs. the Colts.

“I haven’t really had a true time to reflect on my emotions more than anything,” he said. “You just try to prepare each day. The season’s started now. If it was last week, two weeks, three weeks, whatever, when I got traded, it was a little bit emotional. I didn’t know how to feel.

“But with the season coming, I just had to flush all that. We can worry about it later and just understand this season doesn’t wait on anybody, and I just have to continue to prepare and be ready to go if called upon.”

Willis didn’t put up amazing passing numbers – nor was he asked to – but he did enough to help push the Packers across the finish line. Among all quarterbacks through Week 2, Willis trails only Arizona’s Kyler Murray in third-down passer rating after going 7-of-8 for 94 yards and the touchdown.

With an upset win, the Packers obviously are in a much better position at 1-1 than 0-2. That’s reflected in the latest championship odds.

In the wake of Love’s injury, the Packers went from +1900 to +3400 to win the Super Bowl. Now, Green Bay has rebounded to +2700. 

More Green Bay Packers News

Packers-Titans matchups | Consensus NFL power rankings | Injuries for upcoming opponents | Latest Packers injury updates | Three Packers-Colts overreactions | Defense delivers vs. Colts | Josh Jacobs brings the heat | Report card: Packers-Colts grades | Malik Willis plays role to perfection | Matt LaFleur earns career highlight | Stock report: Who’s up? Who’s Down? | Vomit, sweat and tears 

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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.