When the Green Bay Packers announced that Jordan Love suffered a sprained MCL in their Week 1 loss, most fans braced for a bumpy six weeks.
That diagnosis ended up being a lot better than most were expecting, and given that the first 24 hours were spent thinking that the franchise quarterback was out all season, they've been given some hope back. It was a nice change of pace, if even for a fleeting moment.
After that came the fun little debate about whether it'd be Malik Willis, Sean Clifford, or [squints] Ryan Tannehill replacing him for the next month and a half, though the fact that the debate was even happening in the first place probably tells you all you need to know about the Packers' backup QB situation.
But what if, instead of setting realistic expectations because it's a long season and self-regulating your emotions over the course of an up-and-down season is the name of the game, you did none of that? What if you just decided to let it rip and read far too much into Matt LaFleur's latest quote about Love's availability this weekend. Life is too short for restrained fandom.
Matt LaFleur refused to rule Jordan Love out for Week 2
Matt LaFleur: "If Jordan's not cleared, we'll start Malik (Willis) and Sean (Clifford) will be the backup."
— Wes Hodkiewicz (@WesHod) September 9, 2024
"Couldn't give you a percentage. If (Love) gets cleared, we'll give him every opportunity."#Packers
Weird, Matt LaFleur not bothering with percentages?
This is the next evolution of coach speak: instead of attempting to talk in circles around it, LaFleur didn't even try. Very savvy of him to put all responsibility for the Packers' chances over the next six weeks on the team trainers, who I'm sure were thrilled. The irony of this answer is that LaFleur is so clearly trying to avoid this conversation and yet his answer is only going to make it worse.
May we all find something or someone to love as much as NFL coaches love gamesmanship.
To be clear, the chances of Love playing against the Colts this weekend are, like, statistically zero. But in another, more rewarding way, they're not statistically zero. They could be any number, really. It's so uncertain that Green Bay Packers Head Coach Matt LaFleur couldn't even give us a percentage. All that Ryan Tannehill conversation was for nothing.