The first week of the NFL season already handed the NFC North a mess of signals, and the quarterback picture is no cleaner for it. Green Bay took the worst of it with a brutal road loss to Minnesota, but one game is still too small a sample to let a single bad afternoon define anybody. That’s especially true under center, where the line between disaster and momentum can get blurry fast.
So for now, the Week 2 quarterback pecking order in the division leans heavily on what happened in Week 1, while still leaving room for the bigger body of work each passer brings into the year. One ugly outing won’t bury anyone.
One electric performance won’t crown anybody, either. But after opening weekend, the top of the list belongs to Caleb Williams, with Jordan Love right behind him.
Williams looked every bit like the breakout star Chicago fans saw in 2025. Working in Ben Johnson’s offense, he completed 72.4 percent of his passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns against Carolina, then added 65 rushing yards and two more scores as the Bears rolled to 59 points. The fit between Williams and Johnson is already looking dangerous, and after one week, the MVP buzz around Williams feels real.
Love, meanwhile, spent most of his afternoon in Minneapolis trying to survive Brian Flores’ pressure package. There isn’t an official stat for how fast he had to get the ball out, but it was close to instant.
Even with all that heat, he still managed 387 passing yards and two touchdowns, though his day also included an interception and two fumbles. He completed only 50 percent of his throws, and the fourth-quarter collapse lands mostly on the offensive line.
More than anything, there’s concern about what that protection looked like against the Vikings.
Jared Goff lands in the middle of the pack after an uneven but productive opener for Detroit. The Lions got the result they wanted against New Orleans, and Goff delivered the go-ahead touchdown drive, finishing it by finding Amon-Ra St.
Brown for the winning score. That said, plenty of people around the league are still talking about the overturned fumble that loomed large in the game’s outcome.
Goff also didn’t seem fully synced with his top targets, hitting St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and Sam LaPorta on 17 of 31 combined targets.
The expectation is that the timing will sharpen, because Goff remains one of the league’s most accurate quarterbacks and can fill up a stat line in a hurry.
Carson Wentz rounds out the group after being thrust into action when Kyler Murray went down against Green Bay. He made the most of the spot duty, completing 12 of 19 passes for 133 yards and three touchdowns.
The setup helped, with short fields and Justin Jefferson ready to do damage, but Wentz still handled the moment well. It wasn’t enough to suddenly make him the starter when Murray is healthy again, but it did reinforce what he’s been for a while now: a high-end backup who can step in and deliver.
In Other News...
Packers First Injury Report Leaves One Early Concern For Jets Week
After a season-opening loss, the Packers got back to work with an early injury report that was relatively clean, but not entirely carefree. Defensive tackle Warren Brinson was the only player absent from practice because of a calf injury, leaving Green Bay with one immediate health note to track as it shifts attention to a Week 2 meeting with the Jets.
Elsewhere on the field, Aaron Banks, Zach Bako-Bewele, Brandon Cisse and TyRon Hopper were all back in practice in some capacity as the team sorted through various recovery timelines and availability questions. For a Packers group trying to steady itself quickly after Week 1, the bigger concern right now is less about the full roster picture and more about whether Brinsons absence turns into something more than an early-week blip. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Suddenly Have A Jordan Love Problem They Can't Ignore
After a rough Week 1 loss to the Vikings, the Packers found themselves staring at an issue they hoped would not linger into September: protection for Jordan Love. Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said he is not overly concerned by the offensive lines performance, even though the unit gave up a troubling number of unblocked pressures and sacks and left Love dealing with far too much heat in the pocket.
The bigger concern is whether Green Bay can sort through the mess quickly enough before it starts to affect everything else in the offense. Several linemen graded poorly in pass protection, and the Packers are expected to keep experimenting with different combinations up front as they try to settle on something that gives Love a cleaner launch point and a little more confidence moving forward. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Defense Suddenly Faces A New Concern On Short Week
The Packers injury picture got a little murkier this week, and not in a way anyone around the building would have wanted. Green Bays latest report added new concussion designations for Javon Hargrave and Lukas Van Ness, even though neither was reported to have concussion symptoms during or right after the previous game. On a short week, any fresh concern on defense tends to draw attention quickly, especially when the team is already sorting through several other limited and non-participating players at practice.
For a Packers defense trying to stay on schedule, the timing adds another layer of uncertainty as preparation shifts toward the next game. The team will keep monitoring those situations in the coming days, while the Jets are also dealing with a list of injuries that could keep multiple players out of their next matchup. For Green Bay, the immediate focus is less on the opponents availability than on whether two key defenders can get cleared in time. [Read more 🡒]