The Green Bay Packers do not have a functional run game. That fact has been true for most of the 2026 season. They rank near the bottom of the league in rushing attempts and efficiency. The offensive line has struggled to create consistent push. When the Packers need a short-yardage conversion or a way to control the clock, they usually do not get it.
Most teams in that position shrink their offense. They lean on quick game, screens, and high-percentage throws underneath. They try to protect their quarterback and limit mistakes. Jordan Love has refused that approach.
He leads the NFL in passing yards. He has generated more explosive plays of 20-plus yards than any other quarterback. He gets the ball out of his hands faster than anyone in the league while still attacking downfield.
The Packers are not winning despite their run-game problems. They are winning because Love has decided those problems do not apply to him.
His average time to throw is the quickest in football. That allows him to hit Christian Watson, Matthew Golden, and the rest of the receiving corps before most pass rushes can arrive.
At the same time, he keeps taking shots deep. The combination is rare. Quarterbacks who get the ball out that quickly usually live in the short and intermediate game. Love has not.
He has already posted multiple games with six or more completions on throws of 20-plus air yards. No other quarterback has done that this season. Those are not fluky deep balls. They are the core of the offense. When Love is in rhythm, the Packers can score in bursts even when the ground game produces almost nothing.
The Week 1 loss in Minnesota is often cited as proof that the approach has limits. Love finished that game 21-of-42 for 387 yards and two touchdowns. He was under constant pressure. The Packers still lost by 17 points.
What gets overlooked is that Love still produced explosive plays while being hit and hurried. The red-zone failures, penalties, and late turnovers were what buried Green Bay, not a failure of the deep-passing concept.
Since that game, Love has only leaned further into the same style. The run game has not improved in any meaningful way. The deep shots have continued. He has multiple touchdown passes in eight of nine games. He has posted several 350-yard outings. The supporting cast has not suddenly become complete. Love has simply refused to wait for it.
That is the real story for the Packers heading into Sunday’s rematch with the Vikings at Lambeau Field. They are not going to become a balanced offense overnight. They are going to ask Love to do what he has done all year: push the ball downfield quickly and often.
When it works, Green Bay looks like an MVP-caliber offense. When it does not, the lack of a run game becomes obvious.
Love has spent the season proving he can make it work more often than not. He has done it without a reliable ground game to set up play-action. He has done it while taking hits. He has done it with a receiving corps that relies on Watson and Golden to win vertically. The results have been good enough to put him in the MVP conversation.
A home win on Sunday would not just improve the Packers’ standing in a crowded NFC North. It would reinforce that Love’s aggressive, quick-strike style is not a temporary patch. It is the offense. The Packers have not fixed their weaknesses on the ground. They have simply found a quarterback willing to ignore them and attack anyway.
Most coaches would have pulled Love back by now. They would have simplified the playbook, emphasized the short game, and tried to reduce the variance. Matt LaFleur has not. The Packers keep calling the deep shots. Love keeps completing them. The result is an offense that looks unstable on paper and dangerous on the field.
That tension defines Green Bay’s season. They are not a complete team. Their run game remains a liability. Their defense is solid but not dominant. Their path to winning games runs almost entirely through Love’s right arm and his willingness to keep pushing the ball downfield. So far, he has been willing.
Sunday will not change the fundamental shape of the Packers’ offense. The Vikings will still try to pressure him. The run game will still be limited. Love will still be asked to make throws that most quarterbacks avoid. The only question is whether he continues to turn those constraints into advantages.
If he does, the Packers stay firmly in the NFC North race. If he does not, the limitations that have been papered over all season become impossible to ignore. Love has spent nine weeks making the first outcome more likely than the second. That is the hot take the rest of the league still underestimates.
