On the competing, incoherent narratives surrounding the Green Bay Packers offense

Jordan Love, Matt LaFleur and the Packers skill players are all nationally maligned by the media to some degree. They criticisms can't all be true.

Matt LaFleur is a choke artist. Jordan Love is mid, a product of his offensive infrastructure. The infrastructure is bad, though. The offensive line is a major question, and the receivers are all WR3s. These are arguments that get made by national media, by opposing fanbases, and even sometimes by Cheeseheads. The problem is that the results don’t match any of the criticisms.

Since Jordan Love became the starter in 2023, only Brock Purdy and Josh Allen have a higher EPA/play than Love.

No one would argue Love competes with Allen as a virtuosic individual talent. He’s not yet the kind of player who can take over a game the way Allen, the ne plus ultra of physical tools, can. Allen also adds significant value as a runner to the Bills offense. That’s not Love’s game.

Still, that means Love had produced more value on a per-play basis than Lamar Jackson, Matthew Stafford, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert since he’s been the starter.

Two of those guys have won MVP in that span, while Mahomes had two before Love took over.

Let’s take the argument that Love is a product of his offense for a moment. If that’s true, then LaFleur can’t be as problematic as his critics say. There have been fair reasons to worry about LaFleur's conservatism, and blowing a playoff game in such inglorious fashion will amplify those questions, but elite playcallers are more valuable than any position on the field other than quarterback. They can raise the level of an offense.