Through three weeks, the NFC North quarterback picture already has a little bit of everything: a steady veteran in Detroit, a shaky situation in Minnesota, and Jordan Love taking his first hit in these rankings after a rough start for Green Bay.
That last part says plenty about how strange the division has felt so far. The Packers are the only team in the NFC North with a losing record as October approaches, and fixing this team is about a lot more than just asking more from Love. The whole operation has been messy.
Love’s numbers tell the story. He has completed only 52.4 percent of his passes, and even with all the dropped balls around him, too many throws have simply missed the mark. Green Bay has been credited with a league-leading nine dropped passes, and the Packers are stacking offensive linemen wherever they can just to try to patch up a protection unit that has been brutal over the first three games.
That said, Love isn’t off the hook. The issues around him are real, but he has to own his part too.
When a quarterback doesn’t trust what’s in front of him, it affects everything - especially accuracy. His struggles can be explained, sure, but they’re still struggles.
And in a division where other quarterbacks have been better, that matters.
At the top of the NFC North, Jared Goff and the Lions have been about as predictable as it gets. Detroit has scored exactly 31 points in all three of its games, and the defense has been rough in every one of them.
Goff, though, has kept doing his job. He’s completed 70.6 percent of his passes for 802 yards and eight touchdowns, and he still hasn’t thrown an interception.
He just looks inevitable.
Even with those numbers, there’s a sense that something is still missing for him. Watching the Lions, you can feel that Ben Johnson isn’t there calling the plays anymore.
Goff is accurate, smart, and efficient, and he’s absolutely good enough to help Detroit win plenty of games and make a deep playoff run. The question is whether there’s a ceiling on what he can do without Johnson running the offense.
Then there’s Chicago, where the Bears have gotten the best quarterback play in the division so far. And that’s with a twist, because Ben Johnson isn’t the one actually throwing the passes, escaping pressure, running when needed, or finding receivers.
He’s not the puppeteer. He’s more like the conductor, and Monday night was another reminder of how well that orchestra can play.
Case Keenum, of all quarterbacks, went out and picked apart the Vic Fangio defense for 247 passing yards, two touchdowns, and a rushing touchdown to finish the job. The second game of the season is hard to read for the Bears - and the Vikings - because the weather had so much impact on it, but even then Caleb Williams flashed big plays. And everyone saw what this offense looked like at full strength in Week 1.
So for now, the Bears have gotten the best quarterback production in the NFC North, the Lions have the steadiest, and Love has slipped after a difficult opening stretch. Minnesota’s quarterback situation may be the weakest on paper, but the Vikings are 3-0 and already have a win over Green Bay, which is the kind of NFL logic that makes early-season rankings feel a little chaotic.
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For many viewers, that means turning to NFL Sunday Ticket or finding a bar or restaurant package to catch the game live. FOX will send Jonathan Vilma and Chris Myers to call it, while other booth assignments shift to different games around the league, but the bigger story for Packers fans is simply whether they can find the screen in time. [Read more 🡒]
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Packers O-Line Issues Forced Gutekunst To Finally Act
After the loss to the Atlanta Falcons, Brian Gutekunst finally said out loud what has been obvious for weeks: the Packers offensive line was in trouble. Injuries and uneven play up front have helped drag down the run game and left Jordan Love taking too many hits, turning a preseason concern into a real in-season problem for Green Bay.
Gutekunsts first move was to bring in veteran guard Laken Tomlinson from the Dallas Cowboys practice squad, a clear sign the Packers are trying to patch things before the damage gets worse. Whether one addition is enough to stabilize a line that has already been through so much is still the bigger question hanging over the offense. [Read more 🡒]