Love vs. The League, Week Five Edition
This game was fun. It just was. There were some great explosive plays in the first half, and the second half just felt like the Packers were throwing a party and doing whatever they wanted. It felt like 10 months of pent-up frustration from the two Bears chokes last season exploding into one half of brilliance as they dunked on their tormentors over and over again. It was so much fun in real time, and rewatching the film was almost equally entertaining.
Last week, after rewatching the Bucs game, I wrote that despite the lack of high-end production, it looked like the offense had figured it out. They had figured out what routes worked for this group, improved the timing and rhythm of the offense, and adjusted well to the mediocre offensive line. Then they dropped everything while committing backbreaking penalties.
This week, they did all the good stuff from the Bucs game, but the playmakers actually executed. And that's selling them short. The playmakers absolutely exploded.
One thing that jumped out on film that hasn't been talked about enough is how well the defense played. People were quick to write this off as Bagent being horrible rather than the defense playing well, but the truth is it was both.
Bagent WAS horrible. He was really, really bad, and the difference in level between watching him and Jalon Daniels last week was stark. Jalon was legitimately good and looked like a very high-end backup. If this game wasn't an outlier for Bagent, I'm not sure he belongs on an NFL roster.
He had the worst graded game of any QB we've faced this season, but that doesn't automatically discount what the defense did. We were regularly completely blanketing his first reads.
Bagent's options for much of the game were to throw into great coverage or try to get out of the pocket and throw the ball away. He chose the former far too often and took sacks instead of choosing the latter on too many occasions.
The Packers aren't exactly known for their CBs, but Ben Johnson was not getting guys open on Sunday. The Packers were also tackling very well, which was notable after what we saw in Atlanta.
The last couple of weeks from the Packers defense have me thinking the Atlanta game might have been a bit of an outlier. Playing on Thursday night after a Sunday road game that went into OT can leave guys unprepared and gassed, and I believe there's a good chance that was the main culprit. We haven't seen much of that kind of defensive performance before or since from this unit.
Jordan Love
Jordan Love finished the game 25/31 for 367 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs. His passer rating was 137.5. If that stat line isn't pretty enough, take a look at his grading chart. This game was truly a thing of beauty.
Much of this game was actually pretty easy for Jordan Love. Of his 36 graded plays, 27 were either +0.5s or zeros. I generally give a player a zero if he makes an easy throw that every NFL QB should make every time (think screen passes), or makes the correct read and a good decision but slightly misses a tough throw. Most of Love's 17 zeros were routine passes that he completed. A +0.5 usually means making the correct read and executing a relatively easy throw.
Jordan was consistently making the right reads and hitting the easy throws over and over and over again. Not many QBs consistently do the routine things routinely, and Love proved, as he has many times in the past, that he has no problem making the layups.
Where he's struggled at times is actually taking those layups instead of hunting the deep ball. In many of our losses and poor offensive performances, drives stalled because Love wasn't willing to check the ball down, preferring to wait too long for Watson or Golden to get open deep.
Over the last two games, though, Love has happily taken the easy passes the defense has given him, and the chains have been moving again.
And when he did decide to go deep against Chicago? Good lord.
Love's deep ball was absolutely on fire in this game. Until now, no QB I've graded this season (and I've only graded Packers games) had earned more than one +2 or better in a single game.
Love had five plays graded +2 or better in this game, including the first +2.5 I've given this season on the deep ball to Watson. Five. Incredible.
There were throws in this game that have already been completely ignored and forgotten that would've been replayed dozens of times on Twitter and Reddit if they'd happened in almost any other Packers game this season.
If you don't believe me, go back and watch the 46-yard bomb to Kraft in the third quarter. Love is rolling left and throws an absolute rope across his body for 46 yards. Just an insane pass. If he leads Kraft a little more, it's probably a touchdown, but it's hard to blame a guy who's rolling the other direction and throwing a ball like that across the field.
I didn't see that pass posted anywhere all week. There were simply too many insane highlights for anyone to focus on it.
The Love to Watson connection has also been fantastic this season. Their chemistry is getting scary good, and I wouldn't be surprised if it eventually reaches Rodgers to Jordy levels.
On the touchdown pass that swung the game, Watson looks pretty well covered. It's a ball Love typically doesn't force because the safety is in good position, but Watson puts his hand up, Love immediately trusts Watson's read and uncorks it.
Just a beautiful display of two guys who trust each other and make a game-breaking play happen.
I really can't say enough good things about Love's performance here. He was excellent.
My only concern going forward is that his deep ball was almost too good in this game.
My biggest issue with Love all season has been his tendency to pass up good, easy plays while hunting the deep ball that never materializes. He hasn't done that over the past two games, and the offense has looked dramatically better because of it. Hopefully, a game like this doesn't encourage him to revert to his old habits.
It's great when the deep ball is clicking, but when it isn't, that style of football can turn into a three and out fest in a hurry. And we've already seen how much pressure that puts on the defense.
Tyson Bagent
Tyson Bagent finished the game 12/21 for 87 yards, 0 TDs and 2 INTs. His passer rating was 27.4. If that stat line isn't ugly enough for you, take a look at his grading chart. The man was operating almost entirely on the right side of the bar graph.
He was bad in this game, and I'm pretty skeptical of his ability to be an NFL QB. It was a night and day difference between watching him and watching Jalon Daniels play for the Bucs last week. The crazy thing is that Daniels was a completely unheralded UDFA QB, whereas Bears fans have been trying to gaslight us into thinking Bagent is awesome for a while now.
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that this fanbase might not know what good QB play looks like after everything they've been through.
The Packers defense was good, and I don't want to take anything away from them, but there was simply no excuse for some of the decisions Bagent made.
Four of his first six graded plays were negative, with zero positive plays to speak of. His first interception was one of the worst you'll see a professional QB throw, and his second wasn't much better. I genuinely don't know what he was seeing out there.
He also stayed on his first reads for far too long and struggled to recognize and respond to pressure. There were plenty of plays where the coverage was excellent and his options were limited, but that doesn't excuse holding onto the football too long or forcing throws into coverage when nothing was there.
The only positive thing I can really say about Bagent is that he certainly trusts his arm. He believes he can thread the ball into tight coverage and make a play. I have absolutely no idea where that confidence comes from, but he certainly thinks he can make those throws.
It was an ugly performance. There's really not much more to say about it.
Bagent finished with the worst grade of any QB the Packers have faced this season, and considering the group we've gone up against so far, that's saying something.
So Who Actually Played Better?
Landslide.
This was tied for the highest grade I've given any QB this season, which honestly surprised me because it felt like one of the best quarterback performances I've ever watched.
Truthfully, I thought this was a far better game than the one Love played against the Bucs. The difference is that we called so many easy passes that didn't earn particularly high grades, which ultimately brought his average down to nearly the same number.
But the highs in this game were MUCH higher, and his decision making was every bit as good. He made some absolutely ridiculous throws while still consistently taking what the defense gave him. It's not often you see a quarterback make that many spectacular plays without sacrificing the routine ones.
This was an incredibly entertaining game to watch live, and somehow it was almost as much fun going back through the All-22.
I'm excited to see what Love has in store for us next against Dak Prescott and the Cowboys.
Winner: Jordan Love
Love vs. The League Record: 3-2
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