GREEN BAY – Perhaps the most interesting piece of news from the Packers' first injury report in a couple of weeks is that quarterback Jordan Love wasn't limited.
Love, who battled through a groin injury in Green Bay's loss to Detroit before the bye week, was a full participant in Wednesday's practice, meaning he took every rep with the starting offense.
That could be more significant than it sounds. Because while Love is loathe to use health or limited practice time as any kind of excuse for the ups and downs in his game – "Whenever you're not 100% with injuries it's going to affect whatever, but I take it upon myself, if I'm good enough to be out there, I'm feeling that responsibility to be at my best," he said – the fact is dealing with the knee injury that cost him two early-season games, and more recently the groin, has hampered the Packers' ability to hit full stride on offense.
"Certainly when you're limited in your lower half as a quarterback, really with any type of thrower that can have a big effect on your ability to just move around in the pocket or throw accurately," Head Coach Matt LaFleur said. "So it'll be good to just get him some practice under his belt where he's fully healthy."
There's been more to it than Love's health, of course. Penalties and dropped passes have occurred at inopportune times and left scoring chances out there.
The expectation was the offense would've resembled by now the efficient and explosive one of late last season, which was spearheaded by Love's run of 18 touchdown passes against just one interception over the final eight regular-season games.
That hasn't happened, yet. The explosiveness has been there at times, without the efficiency. But nobody's conceding it can't still come together.
"I'm trying to get back to that level and take that bar even higher and play even better," Love said. "There's things throughout the first half of the season that you want to focus on, clean up and get better at. I'm always trying to improve my game and definitely want to be better."
This week's opponent, the rival Bears, won't make that easy. While Chicago's offense is working through its share of turmoil right now, the defense has been the backbone of the 4-5 club.
Only once in nine games have the Bears allowed more than 21 points this season. Their 16 takeaways are just a few off the league lead. They rank seventh in the NFL in third-down defense (33.3%) and are tops in red-zone defense (37.0%).
The Packers, ranked 19th offensively on third down (37.4%) and 29th in the red zone (47.1%), have certainly noticed.
"Those two areas, they do a good job of holding teams and not letting them get those first downs and obviously touchdowns in the red zone," Love said. "Those are two areas that we're going to need to improve on offense and definitely be a lot better than we have been, so it's going to be a good test for us."
LaFleur noted the Bears' style of play on defense is the type every coach strives for, calling it "effort-based" and visible on film. The absence of starting safety Jaquan Brisker (concussion) this week is a blow to the unit, while the Packers are hoping last week's bye did some good for offensive leaders Love, running back Josh Jacobs (quad) and center Josh Myers (wrist).
Myers missed the Lions game before the bye, resulting in some shuffling up front, but he was back in practice on a limited basis Wednesday.
The belief is the Packers aren't far off from getting to full strength and clicking on all cylinders. They still rank in the top 10 in the league in scoring (25.6 points per game) despite some of the shortcomings, so the optimism is not unfounded.
"We've done a really good job of so far this season is generating those explosive plays, those big plays that do lead to points," Love said. "I talk about consistency, but we've just got to finish when we get down there in the red zone.
"I have no doubt that we'll be able to put up points. We've got too many playmakers on this team and too many guys that once they get the ball in their hands they can do some good things."
