For now, the Packers must find a way to win without Jordan Love while they wait for his return.

Author: STEVE MEGARGEE AP Sports Writer

The Green Bay Packers squandered a golden opportunity to start the season on a winning note with Jordan Love leading the charge. Now they’ll have to bounce back without a quarterback, at least for a while. A person familiar with the situation said Love injured his ACL (but not his ACL) and should return this season. The Packers can breathe a sigh of relief that Love will be back. But for now, they have a serious quarterback problem. The only other quarterback on the Packers’ 53-man roster is Malik Willis.

The Green Bay Packers wasted a golden opportunity to start the season with a win when Jordan Love led the offense.

Now they’ll try to bounce back without their point guard, at least for a while.

Love was helped off the field in the final seconds of the Packers’ 34-29 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Friday in Brazil. A person familiar with the situation said Love injured his medial collateral ligament — not his anterior cruciate ligament — and should return this season.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the team has not announced the severity of Love’s injury. A timetable for Love’s return has not been set. ESPN and NFL Network were the first to report the update on Love, with ESPN saying Love could miss three to four weeks and NFL Network estimating three to six weeks.

“Obviously we don’t want our team leader to get injured,” quarterback Josh Jacobs said after the game.

Love, 25, was playing in his first regular-season game since signing a four-year, $220 million contract extension this summer. The Packers entered the season with Super Bowl aspirations thanks in large part to the emergence of Love, who led the NFL’s youngest team to a surprising playoff berth last season as a first-year starter.

So the Packers can breathe a sigh of relief that Love will be back this year. But for now, they have a serious quarterback problem.

Malik Willis, a third-round pick in 2022 out of Liberty, is the only other quarterback on the Packers’ 53-man roster. He’s generally considered a much more polished runner than quarterback. Willis has three career starts — all in his rookie year — and hasn’t thrown for 100 yards in any of them.

Additionally, Willis joined the Packers less than two weeks ago when they acquired him from the Tennessee Titans for a seventh-round pick in the 2025 draft, so he may not have found a rhythm in this offense.

Another possibility is 2023 fifth-round draft pick Sean Clifford. The Packers waived Clifford and rookie seventh-round draft pick Michael Pratt after acquiring Willis, but later reinstated Clifford to the practice squad.

It would have helped if the Packers could have earned an early win Friday in a game Love started, but they failed to capitalize on a night when they gained 414 yards of offense. Penalties, red-zone mistakes and an inability to slow Saquon Barkley proved too much to overcome.

“There’s a lot of room for improvement,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “It was definitely a sloppy game, in my opinion, on our part. There were some unconventional things we did as a staff, honestly, that rubbed off on our players. So ultimately, we all have to take a good hard look in the mirror and find ways to improve, because tonight clearly wasn’t good enough.”

What works

The Packers intercepted two passes from Jalen Hurts, an encouraging sign for a defense that had just seven interceptions last season to finish second to last in the league, ahead of only Tennessee. The Packers struggled to generate many yards up the middle early but still finished with 163 yards on 21 attempts.

What needs to be worked on

Green Bay committed 10 penalties. … The Packers scored just one touchdown on four trips to the red zone, settling for field goals three times. … Green Bay’s defense forced three turnovers but otherwise struggled to stop Philadelphia. After forcing interceptions on Philadelphia’s first two possessions, the Packers allowed three touchdowns and a field goal on the Eagles’ next four drives.

Stock up

WR Jayden Reed showed his impressive rookie season was no fluke. The 2023 second-round draft pick out of Michigan State scored on a 33-yard return and a 70-yard reception. He also had a 38-yard touchdown reception that was canceled by compensating penalties. Reed finished with four receptions for 138 yards. … TE Tucker Kraft was on the field for 64 of the Packers’ 67 offensive plays, a sign he’s passed sophomore Luke Musgrave on the depth chart. Kraft caught two passes for 37 yards. Musgrave played in 17 offensive plays and had no catches.

Stocks down

LT Rasheed Walker was penalized twice for holding and once for a false start. … WR Dontayvion Wicks did not catch a pass on three attempts.

Injuries

On the same play that Love was hurt, C Josh Myers also got up slowly. Myers said after the game that it was just a case of leg cramps. “I had really bad cramps the whole second half of the game,” Myers said.

Key figures

30/70 — Reed is one of five players since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 to both score a touchdown with a 30-yard or more run and catch a 70-yard or more touchdown in the same game. The others are Delvin Williams of the San Francisco 49ers against Washington in 1976, Curtis Dickey of the Baltimore Colts against Buffalo in 1983, Herschel Walker of the Dallas Cowboys against Philadelphia in 1986 and Ezekiel Elliott of Dallas against Pittsburgh in 2016.

Next steps

The Packers will begin their home schedule on September 15 against the Indianapolis Colts.

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