The final stretch of the season matters for the Green Bay Packers, especially with their playoff picture still unsettled. The complication? Jordan Love’s availability status this week after entering concussion protocol. With Green Bay pushing toward a postseason spot, the quarterback’s injury isn’t just another weekly concern. For some, including Brett Favre, it also signifies a long-term risk.

“I saw the hit. It was head-to-head; there’s no question. It did enough damage to take him out of the game, and that severely hampered,” Favre said on the 4th and Favre podcast, when asked about Love’s concussion. “There’s multiple ways you get a concussion. Sometimes the most harmless hit or fall can do as much damage as the worst fall or hit.

“I just think about the long-term effects of a concussion. Because of where I am in my life and having Parkinson’s. There’s no way to definitively say that it’s from football. You and I, along with many others, would probably say head trauma is a contributing factor, if not the main reason, that you have Parkinson’s.”

Though the relationship is unclear, a single concussion suffered in one’s lifetime increases the risk for PD by 57%, per the Parkinson’s Foundation. What’s more, sustaining multiple concussions is directly related to increased risk of both PD and dementia.

Expectedly, the legend’s concern carries weight because of what his career actually looked like. He spent 20 seasons in the NFL, lining up for the Packers, the New York Jets, and the Minnesota Vikings, in an era when concussion awareness lagged far behind the reality on the field.

Favre has said it wasn’t until his 18th or 19th season that the NFL truly began implementing structured concussion protocols.

During an interview, NFL veteran Bobby Jackson summed it up perfectly: “None of us knew anything about concussions. If coaches saw you were tired or weak, they preyed on that. There was this stigma of being weak, and you never wanted to get that label.”

And that’s where things got complicated for Favre. Playing every week meant absorbing everything that came with it. The Packers legend holds a record of most consecutive starts in the NFL with 297 in the regular season and 321 including the playoffs. He has openly acknowledged that those starts came at a cost.

“When you have ringing of the ears, seeing stars, that’s a concussion,” he said back in 2018. “And if that is a concussion, I’ve had hundreds, maybe thousands, throughout my career, which is frightening.”

Unfortunately, even nearly two decades after stepping away from the game, those hits are still part of his daily life. In September 2024, Favre revealed that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease earlier that January. In an interview released by TMZ, he described the first signs.

“I would be doing something, and my right arm, I’d notice would be just stuck right there,” he said. “I felt my arm, the strength was there, but I could not guide it. And it was the most frustrating thing.

“All the doctors said the same thing: If it’s not in your family, and there’s none on either side of my family, then the first thing we looked at is head trauma,” he told TMZ. “Well, hell, I wrote the book on head trauma.”

And to his credit, concussions have been a recurring issue in the NFL. The league recorded 219 concussions across preseason and regular-season games in 2023. While that number dropped to 182 in 2024, the risk hasn’t disappeared.

Not for other NFL players, and not for Jordan Love.

Jordan Love is questionable to suit up in Week 17

Jordan Love became the latest victim of a head injury against the Chicago Bears. The quarterback went down on a first-down play from Green Bay’s 17-yard line with 8:22 left in the first half. After stepping up in the pocket, Love absorbed a hard shot to the head from Bears defensive end Austin Booker and remained on the turf as trainers rushed in.

Following the hit, Love didn’t return to the game. At the time of the injury, he had completed 8 of 13 passes for 77 yards with no touchdowns. In his absence, Malik Willis stepped in at quarterback. But Chicago eventually pushed the game into overtime and secured a 22–16 win.

That said, Love’s availability for Week 17 against the Baltimore Ravens is now in question. If he’s unable to clear it, the implications are significant. Sitting at 9–5–1, the Packers haven’t clinched a playoff spot yet. While The New York Times playoff simulator gives them a 94% chance to get in, closing the season strongly still matters. And having Love under center could make all the difference.