Love has "career day" as the ball bounces in Packers' favor to beat Chargers by 3

 

I am glad that I am not a hockey fan. Even though football is a “violent” sport, players are not equipped with weapons to inflict bodily injury on opponents. Here we see in this recent incident…

 

…a player clearly attempting a karate-kick with the blade of his skating boot into an opponent’s throat. Was it intentional that this was meant to slit the player’s throat, soon afterward to cause his death? No, but it does demonstrate how hockey is a sport that “celebrates” violence (see the 1977 Paul Newman “comedy” Slap Shot):

 

 

Moving on, there was a football game on today, and at home against a Chargers team with a pretty good quarterback and offense, and I suspected that this might not go the Packers way, despite it being a home game. But Jordan Love outplayed Justin Herbert in the first half, throwing for 155 yards as the Packers piled-up 234 yards of total offense, although a 32-yard run by Jayden Reed was the only touchdown the Packers got out of all of that, and field goal to tie the game at 10 going into halftime.

That would be the equivalent of 20 points from 468 yards in total offense over an entire game, which would be par for the course going by what the Packers have been doing the previous two games. Some “fun facts”: the fewest points scored by a team with 500+ yards total offense in a game was by the Buccaneers in 2018 against the then Redskins—3, on 501 total yards. The Packers in a 1980 game against the Buccaneers scored just 14 points on 569 yards of total offense, a game in which Lynn Dickey threw for a then team record 418 yards passing.

The second half saw the Chargers taking the lead on a field goal, but then the Packers got a stroke of good luck when Keisean Nixon muffed a punt but managed to recover the ball. That enabled the Packers to sleepwalk to an easy touchdown, with Love connecting with Watson on 11-yard TD catch. But Anders Carlson—who had previously missed a 52-yard field goal attempt—missed his second extra-point try of the season, leaving the game still a field goal difference at 16-13.

On the Chargers’ next drive they appeared ready to answer with their own touchdown, except that running back Austin Ekeler fumbled at the Packer 2-yard line. The Chargers got the ball back into Packers territory where a TD pass from Herbert to top receiver Keenan Allen gave the Chargers a 20-16 lead with 5 minutes to play.

Now it was time for Love to perform under pressure once again. It should be noted that going into this game the Chargers had the NFL’s worst pass defense, giving up 291 yards per game, so it shouldn’t be a shock to see Love have a pretty good game, which he definitely was. Aided by a recovered sack fumble by Love and a pass interference call on third-and-20, a clearly muddled-headed Chargers’ secondary allowed the Packers to slice their way to an otherwise easy touchdown on a 24-yard pass from Love to Doubs for a 23-20 lead.

Now the “pressure” was on Herbert and he failed miserably. After a sack led to a fourth and twenty deep in their own territory at the 2-minute warning, the Chargers somehow managed to get the ball back 30 seconds later using all their timeouts to at least get into game-tying field goal range. Unfortunately (or fortunately for the Packers), Herbert couldn’t get the ball to Allen and it was all over, the Packers with a “surprise” win over a not terrible Chargers team, at home or not. Love finished with what was certainly the best game of his career, hitting 27 of 40 passes for 322 yards. 

Still, this could have been a much different outcome given the Charger fumble at the Packer 2-yard line and two Packer fumbles deep in their own territory that they managed not only to recover but rallied to score 2 touchdowns following them. Carlson would have been seen as the “goat” with the missed field goal and his second extra-point miss. 

But this time it was the Packers who took advantage of their opportunities, not their opponent as the Chargers out-gained the Packers in the second half 230-163 but were out-scored 13-10.

So is this going to be that turn-around game that proves that Love is the “man”? He certainly has taken a few steps forward the past couple of games, but then again I’m old enough to remember a guy named Don Majkowski. I am willing, however, to admit that Love appears to be a better quarterback than Brett Hundley, whose best game was a 265-yard, 3 TD performance in an OT win over a Browns team on its way to an 0-16 record. Love looked “great” in the box score for certain, but this was also a game that the Packers could have lost if the ball had  "bounced" the Chargers' way on just one of those three occasions.

Next week it is on the road against the 8-2 Lions who have already beaten the Packers in Lambeau 34-20. Against the Bears today, Jared Goff demonstrated he could function under pressure, overcoming a 12-point fourth quarter deficit with just 4 minutes to play following a Bears field goal to make it 26-14, scoring quick 2 TDs along with a safety for a 31-26 win.