Bears, Packers’ wildly different offensive team-building approaches shaped by their QBs

Carmen Vitali

NFC North Reporter

The Chicago Bears. 

The Green Bay Packers.

Founding franchises. Bitter rivals. About as opposite as they come.

That especially rings true with their offensive team-building strategies. One team has a plethora of high-priced talent. The other has the plethora of talent, but is paying pennies on the dollar for said talent.

And it might all speak to how much they trust their quarterbacks.

Despite what the Packers said publicly leading up to the 2023 season, they weren’t exactly tempering their own expectations of quarterback Jordan Love. Green Bay knew Love would be entering his first season as starter after three years of riding the bench behind Aaron Rodgers and yet, they made no splash additions to Love’s arsenal. There were no proven veterans brought in. They didn’t take a wideout in the 2023 draft until the second round. Their top players at the position were entering their second year. 

No matter what head coach Matt LaFleur said publicly, the Packers were betting on Love.

It paid off. Surely, it was a testament to LaFleur and his playcalling. You can see it develop throughout the season. LaFleur gave Love a lot of quick passes, shorter reads and kept things relatively simple in the beginning as Love got used to the pace of the big leagues. Love’s issue was never his grasp of the playbook, it was his lack of live reps and game experience. 

But even in the early aughts of the season, Green Bay saw some success. Aided by motion, which the Packers deployed at the sixth-highest rate in the NFL, LaFleur gave Love his choice of targets. So many targets. And it put stress on opposing defenses, who never knew who Green Bay’s top receiver was.

They still don’t.

Ten players caught touchdown passes from Love last year. Five of them multiple times. Jayden Reed and Romeo Doubs tied for the team lead in touchdowns. Eight such scores were all it took.

There was no single player for opponents to…

Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/bears-packers-offensive-team-building-approaches-shaped-qbs

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Publish date : 2024-06-11 20:04:04

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