Matt LaFleur, Jordan Love Tumble in Coach-Quarterback Rankings

Sports Illustrated’s Matt Verderame nailed it with the introduction of his annual coach-and-quarterback rankings.

“In the NFL,” he wrote, “nothing matters if you don’t have the right coach-quarterback combination.”

Do the Green Bay Packers have the right combination to be anything more than wild-card contenders? With Matt LaFleur his 10th-ranked coach and Jordan Love his 14th-ranked quarterback, their cumulative score of 24 points ranked them 13th in his coach-quarterback rankings.

They were fifth last year as the offense was unable to build upon the momentum from a red-hot finish to 2023.

 “The Packers have been the No. 7 seed the past two years,” Verderame wrote. “If they break through in the NFC North, they’ll need Love to be better than last season, when he threw for 3,389 yards and 25 touchdowns against 11 interceptions.”

There’s reason to believe Love will be better this season, so long as he stays healthy.

Plus, he has a “top-tier coach” in LaFleur. Among all coaches in NFL history with at least 50 games on the sideline, LaFleur ranks 13th all-time with a .670 winning percentage. In exactly 100 regular-season games, he’s 67-33.

The additions of receivers Matthew Golden and Savion Williams in the draft should help. Love could get an additional lift if tight end Luke Musgrave and running back MarShawn Lloyd are healthy contributors.

“I think there’s like a narrative out there for whatever reason that he wasn’t as productive as the year before,” LaFleur said of Love at OTAs on Wednesday. “Well, he missed significant time. He missed the better of three games. Really, it was Indy, it was Tennessee, he went out in Jacksonville and then he went out in Chicago.

“So, three games is a significant amount of time, and you’re not going to produce as much from a numbers perspective. And also, let’s be honest, we’ve talked about this: We did have a lot of drops last year, so there’s other circumstances that play into it. I think all in all, everybody’s going to be better, though.”

It’s true that throwing 154 fewer passes has an impact on the bottom-line numbers of 3,389 passing yards (down from 4,159) and 25 touchdowns (down from 32). It’s also true that the numbers were impacted by the drops.

According to Pro Football Focus, of 32 quarterbacks with 300-plus dropbacks, Love was hindered by the fourth-highest drop rate. Love finished 26th in completion percentage at 63.1, down from 64.2 percent in 2023. If all drops were turned into completions, that would have risen to 74.7 percent. However, if no passes were dropped in the entire NFL, that still would have ranked only 19th.

Meanwhile, Love regressed in terms of interceptions. He threw 11 in 2023 and 11 again in 2024, with his interception percentage rising from 1.9 to 2.6.

Being healthy and staying healthy will allow Love to get more practice reps and have better mobility, which should help his overall production. And Golden, with his speed and polish, and Williams, with his size and athleticism, should help, too.

“There might be some things here and there that might’ve been affected by the injury, but I’m never going to put anything on an injury,” Love said on Wednesday. “I’m going out there, if I’m healthy enough to go, I’m going to try to give it my best and be the best player I can be out there.

“I always hold myself to a high standard. Obviously, it’s not fun playing through injuries, but sometimes those things you got to do. There might’ve been some things that might’ve been affected but, at the end of the day, I’m still trying to put my best foot forward and got to go out there and be the best player I can be.”

Also in the rankings, the Lions’ combo of quarterback Jared Goff and coach Dan Campbell are only 11th due to their “playoff failures,” the Vikings’ combo of first-year starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy and coach Kevin O’Connell are 18th and the Bears’ duo of second-year quarterback Caleb Williams and new head coach Ben Johnson are 27th.

“Bears fans are probably furious with this ranking but consider a few things,” Verderame wrote. “Johnson has never been the head coach of any team at any level. He might be great, but also might be gone in two years.”