Preseason football is supposed to be forgettable. Matt LaFleur made sure the Packers finale against Arizona was anything but.
Green Bay beat the Cardinals 42-38 at Lambeau on Thursday night in a game that ended with Jordan Love wearing the headset instead of the helmet. Love took over play-calling duties in the second half while backup Kyle McCord took the snaps on the field. That is not a normal preseason arrangement.
The Packers led 24-20 at halftime when LaFleur decided to hand his starting quarterback the offense. No advance preparation. No week of install work. Love just took the headset from offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich and started dialing up plays against his brother’s defense.
The Brother Bowl Got Weird
Mike LaFleur, Matt’s younger brother, coaches the Cardinals. That family angle was already enough to make this a curiosity. Then Arizona jumped ahead 38-27 behind a Kedon Slovis touchdown throw and it looked like the little brother might steal one at Lambeau.
Love kept calling. McCord kept executing. With 20 seconds left, Love dialed up the game-winning touchdown pass and the Packers pulled it out.
“Was that not the most entertaining preseason game you’ve ever seen?” LaFleur said after. Hard to argue.
Why This Matters More Than a Preseason Score
Nobody remembers preseason final scores. Everybody in Green Bay is going to remember this one, because it told us something real about how LaFleur views his quarterback.
You do not hand play-calling to a starter mid-game unless you trust his brain completely. LaFleur has talked for two years about wanting Love to feel like an extension of the coaching staff. Thursday was the physical demonstration of that idea.
Love did not just call safe checkdowns either. He called an aggressive second half that produced 18 points against Cardinals defenders trying to keep their jobs. That is a quarterback who has been paying attention in every meeting.
McCord Passes the Test Too
McCord threw for the numbers and the winning touchdown. His postgame line on Love was simple: “He was great.” That kind of endorsement from the guy taking the snaps is more valuable than any coach quote.
McCord is battling for the QB2 job in Green Bay and he just showed he can operate without a rigid script from the box. If Love ever misses time, McCord looked comfortable running whatever came into his ear.
The Bigger Picture in Green Bay
The Packers are already one of the most interesting teams in the NFC. A young receiving corps is working with a quarterback entering year three as the unquestioned face of the franchise.
Thursday added a new layer. Love is not just running the offense on Sundays, he is helping shape it in real time. That is the kind of quarterback-coach relationship that separates contenders from playoff exits.
Preseason games do not count. This one still mattered.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
