While fans of the Chicago Bears have undoubtedly turned on their own team over the past few weeks, when the Green Bay Packers come to Soldier Field on Sunday afternoon, the boo-birds will shift their focus to the players in Green and Yellow… at least out of the gate.
That means banged-up Packers quarterback Jordan Love will be walking into hostile territory, and he’ll be doing so without a starter along the offensive line.
According to NFL insider Adam Schefter, rookie offensive lineman Jordan Morgan, whom the Packers selected with the 25th-overall pick in the NFL Draft this past April, will be placed on the Injured Reserve.
Morgan made his first start of the season two weeks ago against the Detroit Lions and played all 65 of Green Bay’s offensive snaps in the 24-14 loss to their NFC North rival. He had played sparingly in five previous games earlier in the season.
Keeping Jordan Love clean paramount to Packers success
Jordan Love has been sacked just seven times this season, but that low number is partially due to the fact that the second-year starter has missed two games entirely and been knocked out of two additional games earlier this season.
Especially since Love is still likely not at 100 percent, it’s crucial that the Packers offensive line is able to keep him upright against a Chicago Bears defense that ranks just outside of the top 10 in both sacks and quarterback hits.
Love has been a bit erratic with the ball all season long, leading the league with 10 interceptions. But he’s been especially reckless on plays in which he’s been pressured.
On 80 passing plays this year, accounting for 31.4% of his drop-backs, Love has been pressured, and on those plays, he’s completed just 41% of his passes and thrown for just three touchdowns and five interceptions, per PFF. Compared to fellow first-round picks from the 2020 Draft, it’s clear that Love still has a lot of work to do in this regard.
Joe Burrow, 2024 season – 33% pressure rate, 56% completion, 8 touchdowns, 1 interception
Tua Tagovailoa, 2024 season – 20% pressure rate, 68% completion, 3 touchdowns, 1 interception
Justin Herbert, 2024 season – 36% pressure rate, 50% completion, 3 touchdowns, 1 interception
In fairness to Love, he’s still far less-experienced than Burrow, Tua or Herbert. While those three QBs all have over 1,700 pass attempts to their name, Love only passed the 900 attempt mark two weeks ago against Detroit.
