NFC Notes: Bears, Lions, Packers, Jordan Love

Lions

Lions CB Jeff Okudah entered the 2022 season as a complete wildcard after an awful rookie season and an Achilles injury that wiped out his entire second season. Detroit knows a lot more about Okudah now that they’re halfway through this season, and the results have been good. He’s been a solid starter and his pick-six in Sunday’s win against the Bears was one of the plays of the game. 

“I think Jeff’s officially out of the ‘just needs to continue to bank reps (phase),’” Lions HC Dan Campbell said via the Athletic’s Colton Pouncy. “I think he’s banked a lot of reps now and he’s continuing to get better and it’s showing. He’s playing physical. We’ve talked about him on the perimeter, he’s making plays out there and he’s just so much more comfortable and confident right now. So, man, he’s trending the right way.”

• Lions OC Ben Johnson made NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero‘s annual list of first-time head coaching candidates under the age of 45. 
• Lions WR Josh Reynolds (back) returned to practice on Thurdsay. (Tim Twentyman)

Packers

The Packers aren’t out of the running for a playoff berth yet but at 3-6 and on a five-game losing skid, the odds aren’t looking good. Former Jets and Dolphins GM Mike Tannenbaum, currently an analyst at ESPN, said that means there’s a good chance the Packers will start QB Jordan Love late in the season, citing his experience with the team when he traded for Brett Favre.

“I think they have to play Jordan Love once they’re eliminated, and here’s why — and it has a little something to do with my history with the Packers,” said Tannebaum via ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. “I heard in [then-Packers scout] John Schneider’s voice and [then-Packers GM] Ted Thompson’s voice that they knew what they had in Aaron Rodgers when they were trading Favre to us.”

Green Bay’s quarterback situation going forward remains sticky given Rodgers’ struggles and his contract. But having as much information about Love and what he is or isn’t as a player will be important, especially given Love’s fifth-year option is due in May. 

“At the end of the day, [GM] Brian [Gutekunst] and [HC] Matt [LaFleur], their responsibility is the next 10 years,” Tannenbaum said. “They’re not going to win the title this year, so as hard as it is to look Aaron Rodgers in the eye and say, ‘We’re benching you,’ the alternative is he comes back and they trade Jordan Love to [a team like] the Falcons for a third-round pick and Jordan Love is a consequential starter in the league for the next 10 years. Then Aaron graduates after the ’23 season, and now you’re sitting there with no hope, no plan, and your young quarterback, with whom this whole thing got started, is crushing it in Atlanta, which you can’t have happen.”

Asked this week, Love was noncommital on anything regarding the future, including whether he’d ask for a trade if Rodgers didn’t retire. 

“We’ll see,” he said via Demovsky. “I would obviously be in the fourth year of my contract, and it would be the team’s possibility of picking up my fifth year. It’s really on them to see what kind of moves they want to make, what they want to do with the future.”

• Packers HC Matt LaFleur said game reps are obviously nice but they do get to see Love in practice every day: “I think we see it every day, so we’ve got a pretty good indication [of what we have]. There’s nothing like getting in the game and getting those live reps, but he continues to show improvement on a daily basis.”