The Green Bay Packers fell to the Baltimore Ravens in the “Battle of Backups” and saw their division title chances fade away. Jordan Love’s absence was felt rather deeply, and head coach Matt LaFleur opened up on the quarterback’s physical struggles.

“I think he’s feeling physically good, but they have those measures in place, obviously, to protect our players, and he didn’t pass the necessary tests to clear the protocol,” he said.

Jordan Love was ruled out because of a concussion suffered a week earlier in the Packers’ 22–16 overtime loss to the Bears. Before leaving that game, he had completed 8 of 13 passes for 77 yards. The injury came on a hit from Chicago defensive end Austin Booker.

At the time, Love’s status felt up in the air. After the second-quarter hit, his return was labeled questionable. Eventually, he was shut down for the rest of the afternoon. LaFleur said Love feels fine now, but fine isn’t the standard. The protocol is the standard, and there’s no bending it, no matter how important the game is. The Packers surely wished there were another way around it.

In Love’s place, Malik Willis once again stepped in and gave Green Bay a fighting chance. His career stalled in Tennessee before the Packers picked him up for a seventh-round pick ahead of last season, but when he’s been asked to play, he’s looked comfortable. Against Baltimore, Willis was sharp, completing 18 of 21 passes for 288 yards and a touchdown.

He added to that on the ground, running for 60 yards and two more scores, keeping the offense alive. Then it came crashing down. Willis appeared to re-aggravate his throwing shoulder on a non-contact play, the same shoulder he injured last week. Matt LaFleur had something to say about that situation.

Matt LaFleur on Malik Willis’ benching

Willis eventually headed to the locker room, then made his way back to the sideline and started throwing again. During that stretch, the Packers had to turn to practice-squad quarterback Clayton Tune, who had been elevated to the 48-man gameday roster earlier in the day.

Tune’s lone pass came out late and behind his target, Bo Melton, who was lined up at cornerback and receiver and was picked off by Marlon Humphrey. Even though Willis could’ve come back, LaFleur decided to bench Willis and other offensive starters late in the game.

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LaFleur later said Willis could have gone back into the game at that point, but the decision was made to ride it out with the backups until the final whistle since the game was pretty much over.

But he was impressed.

“He made play after play after play out there,” he said. “He was one of the few bright spots on the night in regard to what he was able to do. He made plays, he threw the ball accurately. It was kind of a crazy week in regard to him not really getting any reps, missed a day being sick and came back. He was dialed in, man. I thought he played outstanding,” the head coach said.

That assessment felt fair. Willis has quietly delivered every time he’s been asked to step in for Jordan Love. He’s only been on the field for 6.19 percent of the offensive snaps, but in those 59 plays, he’s thrown for two touchdowns and completed 85.7 percent of his passes.

Whether it leads to more time in Green Bay or opens a door somewhere else down the line remains to be seen. But when the Packers have needed him, Willis has been ready. Too bad tonight didn’t go his way.