Nineteen days after the Green Bay Packers completed the Malik Willis trade, the former Tennessee Titans quarterback stepped into the starting quarterback role and helped the Packers beat the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at Lambeau Field.
Willis said he learned Saturday he would be starting in place of Jordan Love (knee). A day later, Willis completed 12 of 14 passes, averaged 8.7 yards per attempt, threw for his third touchdown pass, ran for 41 yards and had no sacks or tackles in the Packers’ 16-10 home win over the Colts in their season opener. He had a passer rating of 126.8.
Just executing the offense — which included complicated run calls — was arduous enough. While Willis didn’t have to do much as a passer, he got the Packers in and out of the huddle, made the plays that were there and avoided mistakes.
“I don’t think you can appreciate or even comprehend the task that Malk Willis … that guy was given three weeks ago,” coach Matt LaFleur said Sunday. “For him to go out there and command our offense, still have a lot of long decisions, changes, moves, a lot of different running patterns. A lot was thrown at him. And for him to go out there and do what he did today, I think it says a lot about who he is as a person and the work he puts into his game. I’m just super proud of him.”
While the Packers ran the ball at will early on, the quarterback still had to make plays. Willis threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Dontayvion Wicks on third-and-4, beating Kenny Moore on an outbreaking route. He later found Tucker Kraft for 17 yards and Romeo Doubs for 39 yards to turn third downs into scoring drives.
The Packers had 53 rushing attempts and just 14 passing attempts the rest of the way, evoking memories of the ruthless game plan the San Francisco 49ers used to beat the Packers in the 2019 NFC title game. LaFleur protected Willis with a consistently dominant, ball-control running game, and the Packers defense — which didn’t allow a point until slow in the third quarter — played its part by not putting any extra pressure on the offense. Willis made some gigantic plays when the situation called for it.
It takes months, if not years, to fully master a up-to-date offense. Willis, who spent the summer trying to earn a starting job at Tennessee, arrived in Green Bay 10 days before the season opener and 19 days before his first start. With a week of first-team reps to prepare for Sunday, Willis played speedy and controlled despite calling and running a dense game plan with a slew of up-to-date running concepts.
The Packers had 10 drives on Sunday: four that resulted in points, one that ended in a goal-line fumble, one that ended the first half and one that ended in a missed field goal. The drive was three-and-out only twice. If Josh Jacobs hadn’t fumbled the ball on the third play and Brayden Narveson had hit a 45-yard field goal, the Packers would have scored 26 points and probably won comfortably.
Above all, Willis did what every backup quarterback must do to aid his team win a football game: he avoided game-winning mistakes and allowed all of the talented players around him to lead the team to a much-needed victory.
The Packers had a gigantic question mark at backup quarterback heading into 2024. Would Sean Clifford or Michael Pratt have won a game if Love were out? The Packers didn’t have an answer, so they went out and got Willis in the final cuts. It didn’t take long for that move to pay off.
