Hurt Quarterbacks and Tough Big 10 Schedules Ahead

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the Packers saw not one but two of the quarterbacks hurt after Saturday’s loss to the Bears. Jordan Love went down with a concussion thanks to a big helmet-to-helmet hit while Malik Willis hurt his shoulder trying to throw a pass at the end of regulation. Matt LaFluer’s decision to have Willis throw the ball with 17 seconds left in the second half will go down as just another terrible call. He had 80 yards to go and he was left exposed. That call was based solely on emotion; the rational call there would have been to take a knee and try to go during overtime. Instead, he’s questionable and as of Tuesday Love is still in concussion protocol. Could Love be cleared in time to face the Ravens Saturday night? Maybe. But if not, who are we going to trust to throw the ball, Clayton Tune?

The two injuries were not what killed the Packers on Saturday, but a series of bad mistakes made by a number of big name players. There was Romeo Doubs’ fumble of the onside kick, a fumble that if avoided would have meant a win for the Packers. Instead, Doubs took his eyes off the ball to look at who was coming at him and flinched. Then there was Josh Jacob’s fumble with just a few yards to go before a touchdown. Or Xavier McKinney’s should-have-been-but-wasn’t interception. Some credit should be given to the Bears, who did pull out a win. But when you look at the numbers, Caleb Williams did not play his best ball up until the final two drives of the game. But don’t worry, if the season were to end today there would be one more rubber match as Green Bay would be set to take on the Bears in the postseason.

Meanwhile at the Kohl Center, the Badgers Men’s Basketball team took Central Michigan to task on Monday night, but that isn’t much to write home about. There are still some out there that are skeptical of the Badgers this year, and those people are valid. When they play against weak teams, they tend to dominate, but when they go up against real competition they struggle to even be in the same league. That’s an issue, considering they have some tough Big 10 games on the horizon. They’ll start at home with Purdue and UCLA before traveling to take on Michigan. There are plenty of good players on the team, though, they just have to find a way to mesh and put things together.

The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.