Whoever plays QB for the Packers under Matt LaFleur shines. Does it matter?
The Packers keep finding new ways to lose games despite great quarterback play, including their third loss this season without a punt.
(Editor’s note: This is excerpted from Mike Sando’s Pick Six of Dec. 29, 2025.)
4. Whoever plays QB for the Packers under Matt LaFleur shines. Does it matter?
Rodgers ranked fifth in EPA per pass play across his four seasons as the Packers’ starting quarterback under LaFleur. His successor, Jordan Love, ranks sixth since taking over in 2023.
Even Love’s fill-in, Malik Willis, has shined in three starts under LaFleur (of 31 QBs to start more than one game in those three specific weeks, he ranks first among them in EPA per pass play).
It’s a leading reason LaFleur would be highly sought to run an offense and/or coach a team if he left Green Bay.
But if you’re a Packers fan, watching the Eagles defeat the Bills on Sunday without completing even one pass in the second half could not have been pleasant.
Just a day earlier, Green Bay lost at home to Baltimore 41-24 with Willis completing 18 of 21 passes for 288 yards and a score (he was 10 of 13 for 155 yards after halftime).
Willis’ EPA per pass play (.746) was the highest for a Packers starting quarterback in the regular season since Rodgers against the Raiders in 2019. The figure ranks eighth out of 411 regular-season starts by Green Bay quarterbacks since 2000, per TruMedia. He also rushed for 60 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries.
Willis was exceptional, and the Packers still got run out of Lambeau Field. Green Bay became the first team since 2000 to string together 22 consecutive drives without a punt while not winning a game. The previous high mark was 16. Seven of those 22 drives ended with a giveaway (two fumbles, one interception) or turnover on downs (four).
Green Bay’s defense was not the first to let Derrick Henry rush for at least 200 yards. Henry has done it seven times in his career, more than any player in league history. But this was the second time a Ravens team with Tyler Huntley at quarterback lit up a Packers defense.
The Ravens have played 17 games with Huntley in the lineup at quarterback instead of Jackson. Their points per game average in two games against Green Bay (35.5) is more than twice their average in the other 15 Huntley starts (14.7).
Sound familiar? It should.
Sixty quarterbacks have faced the Packers in the regular season since LaFleur became coach in 2019. Drew Brees and Justin Herbert rank among the top 10 in EPA per pass play from that list, but so do Bo Nix, Jameis Winston, Bryce Young, Daniel Jones and, yes, Huntley.