As a sports fan, more specifically a Green Bay Packers fan, sometimes there are players whose names you hear, and you just get that warm, fuzzy feeling inside. For me, the list includes guys like Donald Driver, Nick Collins, and James Jones. It’s a list comprised of some guys who were genuinely good (Charles Woodson), and other guys who were just easy to love (Matt Flynn.) It’s a list that just added its newest member this past weekend: Malik Willis.
After a surprisingly great 2023 season, the Packers entered 2024 as one of the teams to beat in the NFC, and a big reason for that is the guy they briefly made the highest-paid QB in the league: Jordan Love (also in my list of warm and fuzzies.) Heading into this season, big things were expected from Love, and from the Packers as a whole. And then the MCL injury happened at the end of the Week 1 matchup against the Eagles. Love’s backup, Malik Willis, stepped onto the field after being with the team for a total of 11 days. I think he took two snaps, but everything was a blur because I was in the fetal position mourning the loss of the season, so I’m not sure of the exact number. But it wasn’t good, and the Packers lost!
When Love was ruled out the following week against the Indianapolis Colts, I had accepted a record of 0-2 to start the season. The Colts are a bad team, but it’s hard to replace your starting QB and remain competitive. The sky was falling, and I was already thinking about 2025. Suddenly, Malik Willis and Matt LaFleur descended from the sky in a cloud of green smoke, took my cheeks in their hands, and said “2025 can wait, my child. We’re about to beat the Colts.”
And then, they did it again in Tennessee against the Titans! Granted, these are some bad football teams, but like I said: when you lose your preferred starter at QB, even bad football teams suddenly become a lot harder to beat. After some traumatic memories featuring backups like Brett Hundley, Scott Tolzien, and Seneca Wallace, a 2-0 run with Malik Willis truly feels like heaven.
The best part of this has been Willis’s attitude. The organization loves Packer-people, and Willis seems like a Packer-person at his core. He’s been confident, but he exudes humility, which is an incredibly important trait to have as the interim-leader of such a young offense. I mean, look at how he talks about the defense, despite having one of the best rushing days a Packers QB has ever had
Willis does not toot his own horn. But I will toot it. According to Packers writer Wes Hodkiewicz, Willis is just the fifth Packers QB to have a passer rating of 120+ in consecutive starts. He’s also been running all over opposing defenses, with 41 rushing yards in his first outing against the Colts, and 73 against the Titans. Malik Willis did not exist the last time a Packers QB rushed for 70+ yards (Don Majkowski, 88 yards in 1990).
On third downs during his two starts for Green Bay, Willis is lights out, completing 12 of 17 passes for 190 yards and a TD, and rushing for another 55 yards. He’s been insanely efficient. Yes, Matt LaFleur’s coaching deserves a ton of the credit here (I will make sure you will win COTY if it’s the last thing I do), but to have a guy carry the team he’s been with for less than one month is nothing short of impressive. As easy as it’s looked for Willis to just run the offense as LaFleur designed it, it could’ve been just as easy for him to make mistakes that could cost the team a game.
He’s done pretty much everything right in Jordan Love’s absence, and it has legitimately saved Green Bay’s season. With any of the other quarterbacks the Packers had on their roster during training camp, the team could be looking at an 0-3 record, which is essentially the nail in the coffin for a team’s playoff hopes. Since 1990, just four teams have made the playoffs after an 0-3 start. Instead, the Packers sit at 2-1, with a chance to take the division lead on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings. No matter what happens this season, Malik Willis will go down in Packers history as the little backup that could.
