Green Bay Packers

Packers hoping youth movement leads to another era of sustainable success

Updated Nov. 21, 2023 1:46 p.m. ET

The Green Bay Packers are growing up together.

And it hasn't been without growing pains.

Early in the season, when his team was (mostly) at full strength, first-year starting quarterback Jordan Love thrived immediately. He came out of the gate and beat the Chicago Bears, upholding a nearly two-decade tradition set by his predecessor. The Packers then narrowly lost a game in which Love played well in Week 2 and won again in Week 3.

Then, though, came the losing streak. Various injuries kept the Packers from keeping their promise of cultivating a good situation for Love to develop in. The offensive line was no longer ironclad. The run game wasn't reliable. And the defense couldn't be trusted to preserve leads or make stops. Green Bay also inexplicably (and still) couldn't score points in the first half (they've scored just 20 points in the first quarter all season; 39 in the second).

Love was left with inexperience all around him as a result. His receiver corps is made up of first- and second-year players. Two of his tight ends are rookies. Love was thrust into an impossible situation: trying to carry a team when he himself was still developing.

"We gotta make some plays for him, too," said head coach Matt LaFleur after the Packers' loss to Minnesota in Week 7. "We had like six dropped balls."

To be fair, our collective expectations for young players have become unrealistic. Most football observers want to see an immediate return on teams' investments.

The way the Packers do things, however, is a strategy left over from generations ago — before the age of social media and instant gratification. Patience is required to be a Green Bay fan. But that doesn't mean it's wrong.

The Packers have the league's youngest roster. Training camp and a few games aren't enough of a sample size to make determinations of the future. Even in Week 11, it's still too soon to say. That's the reality. Rebuilds, reloads, whatever you want to call them — they are multi-year processes. They take time.

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I'm reminded of the Three Little Pigs fairy tale I was just reading to my niece and nephew. The first pig quickly made a house of straw, and it was no match for the big, bad wolf. The second pig took a bit more time with sticks but to the same result. It wasn't until the third pig, who made his house of bricks, that the house stood sturdy. It took longer. It was harder. But it was sustainable.

More often than not, things worth doing take time. It's as simple as that.

As the youthful players around Love gain more experience, he's showing his own progress. Sunday's win over the Los Angeles Chargers was a sign of that. Love had his first 300-yard game as an NFL quarterback. He led a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter. Rookie Dontayvion Wicks was his leading receiver on just three catches. Rookie Jayden Reed had 46 receiving yards and 46 rushing yards, including an end-around rushing touchdown. The Packers got 30 snaps out of Tucker Kraft and combined with Luke Musgrave, who played 64% of the team's offensive snaps on Sunday, Green Bay got 60 receiving yards and effective blocking from its tight ends.

It shows that the Packers are starting to trust their young players. Wicks should see an uptick in playing time if he remains consistent. That means Green Bay has more help for Love and can get more creative.

That wasn't lost on Love after playing Los Angeles.

"It just feels like we're trying to find our groove right now, and we're getting into that groove and finding that rhythm," Love said. "Starting the game fast, eliminating the three-and-outs that are just drive-killers, limiting the turnovers, things like that. So it just feels like we're getting in that groove where everyone's getting settled in, that chemistry is building day-by-day, so I think we're in a really good spot right now. We just have to keep building on it."

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This is exactly what the Packers have been going for. Whether it's going to work again or whether it was the right way to do things has yet to be determined. Could the receivers have come along more quickly if they had a veteran in the room to show them the way? Probably. Could things have been easier for Love if was able to rely on the veteran units he was supposed to? Almost definitely.

Right or wrong, doing it this way ensures this unit can grow together — and if it takes hold, have sustainable success for years. That's what Green Bay is hoping for. And it's worked before.

Carmen Vitali covers the NFC North for FOX Sports. Carmen had previous stops with The Draft Network and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She spent six seasons with the Bucs, including 2020, which added the title of Super Bowl Champion (and boat-parade participant) to her résumé. You can follow Carmen on Twitter at @CarmieV.