2023 NFL Power Rankings: Green Bay Packers

Young riser: WR Dontayvion Wicks

Young players are about all the Packers have. In fact, they have 25 players who are 24 or younger. Jordan Love is under 25. So are all but one of his receivers and one of his tight ends. Wicks is the youngest of them at all at age 22 (he won't turn 23 until next June). The fifth-round pick is behind Romeo Doubs (23), Christian Watson (24) and Jayden Reed (23) on the depth chart, but Sunday against the Broncos he caught a pass for 17 yards and then threw a pass for 14 on a trick play. He's averaging 14.0 yards per catch on eight receptions this season. -- Rob Demovsky

In Sunday's loss to the Broncos, Jordan Love threw a pick in his fourth straight game. Packers fans just aren't used to this level of carelessness from their quarterback -- this is Matt Flynn country after all, so I get it. I haven't looked at a mock draft since April, so forgive me, but at this point, I'll assume some Green Bay backers are skipping a few steps and giving the team a new first-round quarterback, no questions asked. The idea of giving up on Love this early in the season feels wild, though. Sean Clifford would be Plan B, so my plea is for patience. Sunday's pick was a killer, but Love did a few quality things before it.

Losing to the Broncos off a bye is not a good look. It took them way too long to get the offense going. They need to play looser on offense than they did in the first half.

They've been outscored 46-6 in the first half during their three-game slide, holes not even finally healthy RB Aaron Jones can be expected to lift a team out of.

One question: What happened to Jordan Love?

The Packers quarterback looked like he was growing into the starting job early in the season, but since Week 3, he is 33rd in the league in passer rating (64.9) and completion percentage (58.2). Nobody has thrown more than Love's seven interceptions in that time period, and his 14.2 percent off-target percentage is the fifth highest. On Sunday, Love was 21-for-31 for 180 yards, two touchdowns and one interception against a Denver defense that is last in the league, giving up 424.7 yards per game.

I don't know the answer to this problem, but surely the Packers can find a way to start games faster? They've scored just 26 points in the first half this season — and a grand total of six in their last three games. A young team and a young quarterback aren't going to dig out of second-half holes on a consistent basis.

The problem with Jordan Love's struggles is he's not a rookie. He sat for three years. That makes it harder to excuse him playing like a rookie. You don't want to give up on anyone after six games, but Love has given Green Bay very little reason to believe he's the answer.

The cheese is quickly getting moldy.

Tweets by @EDSFootball