QB Love can’t dig the Packers all the way out of an early hole in his return from a knee injury

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Jordan Love arrived at Lambeau Field wearing a Brett Favre Packers jersey.

Then he went out and produced the kind of performance that Favre once made a habit of delivering at home.

Love went 32 of 54 for 389 yards and nearly helped Green Bay come all the way back from a 28-point deficit Sunday in his return after missing two games with an injured left medial collateral ligament.

But he also was picked off three times in Green Bay’s 31-29 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Love ended up setting career highs in completions, yards passing, touchdown passes and interceptions.

“I think ball placement was a little all over the place today, kind of throughout the whole game,” Love said. “I think it picked up later, but yeah, I think early on I just missed a couple throws and was a little bit off and made it hard on some of the receivers on some of those plays.”

Love acknowledged after the game the knee continued to bother him at times.

“I hope it’ll continue to heal and get better, but at this moment, yeah, it’s definitely something that’s there,” Love said. “It’s one of those things. It’s football. We play a physical sport and there’s injuries and you got to fight through some stuff.”

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Love hadn’t played since getting injured in the final series of the Packers’ 34-29 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 6 in Brazil. Malik Willis filled in for Love the past two weeks and led Green Bay to victories over the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans as the Packers used a more run-oriented approach.

The rust was apparent early on as Green Bay fell way behind early, forcing Love to throw time and time again.

Love went 10 of 22 for 101 yards with two interceptions over the first 29-plus minutes of the game as the Packers fell behind 28-0. Each of the two interceptions led to Minnesota touchdowns.

Green Bay (2-2) finally got on the scoreboard in the final minute of the first half when a fumbled punt by the Vikings (4-0) led to Love’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Jayden Reed.

And in the fourth quarter, Love finally started to showcase the ability late last season while leading the Packers on a surprising playoff run.

“We knew he was out for a couple weeks, so we were going to put some pressure on him,” said Shaq Griffin, who had one of the Vikings’ three interceptions. “He also did a good job just kind of figuring it around the kind of defense that we were in. A lot of quarterbacks haven’t done that yet, so he did. I definitely tip my hat off to him.”

In that final quarter, Love went 13 of 17 for 202 yards with three touchdown passes and one interception.

After the Packers stopped Minnesota’s Jalen Nailor for no gain on fourth-and-1 from the Green Bay 4 with less than 2 1/2 minutes left, Love led a five-play, 96-yard drive. His 17-yard touchdown pass to Dontayvion Wicks cut Minnesota’s lead to 31-29 with 56 seconds left before the Vikings could seal the victory.

That fourth-quarter effort exemplified why the Packers believe he can eventually lead them to a title.

“Jordan is Jordan, man,” Reed said. “He’s ‘him,’ in my opinion. I’ve never had a different opinion.”

Love’s teammates remember how he threw 21 touchdown passes with only one interception during a nine-game stretch last season that culminated with a 48-32 upset of the Dallas Cowboys in a wild-card playoff game. The Packers showed their faith in him by signing Love to a four-year, $220 million contract extension last summer.

“I think he’s a hell of a competitor,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “We’ve got a lot of trust, belief and faith in him, and I love how he battles. That’s one of the things that you absolutely love about him is his composure. He’s never too high, never too low and he keeps competing and he keeps battling. I’m super-proud of his effort.”

Even after Love’s big fourth quarter, the Packers still fell short. They’re already two games behind the surprising Vikings in the NFC North.

Now that the Packers are facing some early adversity again, Love can draw upon last season’s run for confidence as his knee gradually gets better.

“We started off in a hole last year as well, so it’s one of those things, we’re going to come back next week, keep working, learn, watch the tape, grow from this game and we’ll see these guys again later on the year,” Love said. “So just learn from it, keep going. But it’s definitely a long season, and I definitely like where we’re at as a team. You know, we didn’t make plays, but (with) the playmakers we have and team we have, I definitely like where we’re at.”

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