Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love threw three interceptions in a 31-29 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday at Lambeau Field. The first two interceptions directly led to touchdowns as the Vikings built a commanding 28-0 lead. His final interception halted what could have been an important scoring drive late.
The circumstances of the turnovers matter. On the first, a defender made a great play. On the second, Love wound up on the wrong end of a really unfortunate play. On the third, the Vikings forced Love into taking an unnecessary chance.
Let’s dig into the interceptions to see what happened within the individual plays.
First interception
.@k_grugierhill gets his hands on the INT!
📺: @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/iJVu45ANrt
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) September 29, 2024
Sometimes, a defense just fools the quarterback and makes a tremendous play. This was one of those plays. Facing a Cover-2, the Packers had Luke Musgrave running up the seam and Christian Watson running an in-breaker behind the quick hitch of Tucker Kraft. This is a staple play for the Packers. In most cases, the seam route will carry the linebacker up the seam, and the in-breaking route will flash into an open window behind the hook defender in the vacated space. Love probably thought he had a layup completion. But credit the Vikings — and particularly linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill. He carried Musgrave but fell off with perfect timing to meet Watson at the catch point. Then he made a terrific play to win the ball while Watson got crunched underneath. Next time, Love will need to have a better feel for the linebacker baiting the in-breaking throw against that look. It’s also possible Love was a little impatient and didn’t hold the seam route long enough.
“He made a good play,” Love said. “I didn’t see him. Threw it into traffic and he made a really, really good play on that one.”
Second interception
Love confirmed postgame that this pass was intended for Doubs and not Musgrave. Super unfortunate. pic.twitter.com/FP6W2r3fn2
— Brandon Carwile (@PackerScribe) September 30, 2024
Talk about unfortunate. Facing an unblocked blitz, Love had to throw an in-breaking route earlier than he probably would have normally. With the timing and spacing messed up, Love’s attempt went directly over the head of Luke Musgrave, who ran a quick hitch to open space. The problem? Musgrave attempted to make the catch and interfered with the ball getting to Doubs, and the ball deflected into the hands of the defender. Count this as a drop for both Musgrave and Doubs — it went through Musgrave’s hands and off Doubs’ hands. The unfortunate part is that both Musgrave and Doubs were open. Love confirmed he was going for Doubs. Maybe Love should have settled for Musgrave underneath instead of trying to throw early in the timing of the in-breaker behind it.
Coach Matt LaFleur said Doubs ran the wrong route stem and was late getting to his spot on the wrap route, so Doubs and Musgrave ended up in the same passing window.
Third interception
Big play from @byronmurphy!
📺: @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/tdZBOYD5LR
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) September 29, 2024
Brian Flores got Jordan Love on this one. He sent more than the Packers could block on 1st-and-10, and safety Harrison Smith was free off the offense’s right edge. Under immediate pressure, Love threw up what he thought could be a 50/50 ball for Dontayvion Wicks down the field. But the problem was timing. Wicks wasn’t expecting the ball to be thrown as quickly as it was, so cornerback Byron Murphy had the better opportunity to track the ball and make the play downfield.
Murphy made the interception in the end zone with 6:13 left in the fourth quarter and the Vikings up nine.
“We were going fast, and they got me right there,” Love said. “Brought an all-out (blitz), and Wicks had a go route and I felt Smith coming off the edge and just tried to throw one up and let Wicks be able to make a play. The timing was off, I was obviously really early getting the ball out, so he wasn’t expecting it at that time, and he never really got his eyes around in time and the DB tracked it the whole way. One of those critical mistakes. Gotta be able to see the blitz or throw the ball away. Take care of the ball.”
Like Brett Favre before him, Love loves to hunt big plays down the field. Like Favre, it sometimes gets him in big trouble. Especially on first down, Love should have lived to fight another day. The turnover likely cost the Packers points in the fourth quarter of a two-point loss.
