In the midst of a four-game losing streak, the Packers’ struggles have led to renewed questions about Jordan Love‘s status as the team’s projected long-term starting quarterback. Head coach Matt LaFleur endorsed the former first-rounder last week, but general manager Brian Gutekunst has since struck a different tone.
Love got off to an encouraging start in 2023, his first season at the helm and thus the beginning of his audition period as Aaron Rodgers‘ successor. The 25-year-old has taken a step back statistically in recent weeks, however, throwing at least one interception in each of the past five games (and eight total during that span). Love sits last in the NFL in completion percentage (57.7%), a sign of his growing pains but also those of Green Bay’s offense as a whole.
“I think he’s done a lot of really good things,” Gutekunst said of Love, via ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. “Really like the way he’s responded to the adversity, how he’s led the team. Again, we’ve got to be better as a unit, and I expect that to happen over the next 10 games. And I think that we’re going through some things that we knew we would go through. We haven’t had the results that we want, but I do like the way guys are responding to things.”
Gutekunst added that the final 10 games of the Packers’ season will be “very important” as it pertains to the organization’s evaluation of Love. The Utah State product signed an extension which took the place of his fifth-year option this offseason, a pact that has him on the books through 2024. Improvement will be needed to quell doubts on the team’s part that another option under center should be sought out, although it comes as little surprise that Green Bay’s highly inexperienced offense has encountered issues in the first half of the campaign.
“When the group as a whole is not functioning the way it should function, then it’s hard to evaluate anybody,” Gutekunst added. “At the same time, it’s on us to get that right so we can move forward and evaluate the guys we have in that room. But yeah, when we’re not clicking, it’s tough to evaluate anything.”
Plenty of attention will be on Love, in particular, to close out the season as the 2-5 Packers aim for signs of growth over the second half of the campaign. Green Bay elected not to add a veteran presence at this week’s trade deadline, with the team’s only move being the one that sent corner Rasul Douglas to the Bills. While Gutekunst expressed confidence the Packers’ young offense nucleus will take a step forward, his remarks make it clear progress will be necessary in the near future on Love’s part for the organization to feel comfortable about a long-term commitment.
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