Packers wide receiver Malik Heath, left, is hit by Chicago Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson after making a catch on Sunday in Green Bay, Wis. (AP photo)
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — The Green Bay Packers passing game has struggled of late, and there’s nothing coach Matt LaFleur would like more than for his offense to find its groove again heading into Sunday’s NFC wild-card game on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Of course, it would help if the Packers two quarterbacks — starter Jordan Love and backup Malik Willis — weren’t both dealing with injuries that affected their ability to throw the ball during the team’s loss to the Chicago Bears in last Sunday’s regular-season finale.
Love, who had numbness in his right hand after banging his right elbow on the Lambeau Field turf during the second quarter, was limited in practice Wednesday because of the injury, although he said his hand was “pretty much feeling back to normal” by the next morning.
Still, Love said his elbow was still sore on Wednesday, when he did some limited throwing and acknowledged feeling pain when he did so.
Asked if he is definitely playing on Sunday, Love replied, “We’ll see. Yeah, I’m hopeful.”
Meanwhile Willis, who injured the thumb on his right hand on a Bears defender’s helmet during the fourth quarter, was also limited in practice and his status is uncertain for Sunday.
“I mean, it doesn’t feel normal, no,” Willis said after practice. “I just did whatever they allowed me to do out there today and we’ll see how it goes the rest of the week.”
Asked if he thought he’d be ready if Love wasn’t able to start against the Eagles or reinjures his elbow, Willis replied, “I’m not sure that I’m ready to think about that. I take it day by day.”
The quarterback injuries are set against the backdrop of a Green Bay passing game that was on a roll for much of the second half of the regular season until the team’s back-to-back losses to the Minnesota Vikings and the Bears the past two weeks.
The Packers finished the regular season eighth in scoring offense (27.1 points per game) and fifth in total offense (370.8 yards per game).
In the passing game, they were 12th in yards per game (223.9), but were third in passing yards per play (7.95), because running back Josh Jacobs and the ground game became such a focal point and Love wasn’t asked to carry the offense as much as he had at times last season.
But against the Vikings and Bears, the Packers quarterbacks combined to complete 36 of 55 passes for 390 yards with one touchdown, no interceptions and six sacks.
Love, who in the prior five games had 1,054 yards with eight touchdowns and no interceptions, hit on just 61.9% of his passes in the final two games and threw just the one TD pass.
“It’s everything,” Love said when asked what needs to happen for his accuracy to improve and for the passing game to be more productive. “It’s footwork, the timing of the play, being on the same page with receivers, obviously your fundamentals throwing the ball, making sure everything’s on point.
“There’s a lot of things that play into that, but it comes down to just being locked in on the details, and just going out there and doing the same thing you do in practice — make sure everything transfers over to the game.”
Making matters more difficult: The Packers will be without big-play option Christian Watson, who suffered a torn ACL in his right knee last Sunday against the Bears and is out for the season.
“Not having Christian, we all are upset about that. Christian is one of the best players on this team,” said wide receiver Bo Melton, one of the receivers who could get more opportunities with Watson out. “I feel like everybody in our room can step up. We have a lot of playmakers in that room. We’ll be ready for sure.”
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