The Detroit Lions could face the Packers without Jordan Love

The Green Bay Packers may be without starting quarterback Jordan Love for their Week 9 NFC North game against the Lions.

Love, who missed two games earlier this season with a knee sprain, had to leave the Packers' win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday early due to a groin injury. He suffered the illness on the first drive of the game, but did not exit the Week 8 game until midway through Green Bay's first drive of the second half.

Third-year passer Malik Willis stepped in to relieve Love.

“I don't know). No idea,” Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said after the game about Love's injury. “But obviously there's a great level of concern any time someone's in there, and he did it early , on the first ride, and I think you guys, I think everyone could see him struggling to get around. It just got to a point where we didn't feel like it anymore and he felt like he could no longer protect yourself.”

Willis threw for 202 yards and a touchdown in the victory. He also contributed another 73 yards and an additional score as a runner.

Most notably, Willis hit receiver Jayden Reed with a 51-yard bomb on the second play of the Packers' final drive. This ultimately contributed to Brandon McManus hitting a game-winning 24-yard field goal, his second walk-off kick for Green Bay in as many weeks.

“I can’t say enough great things about Malik Willis, the work he can do to get in there,” LaFleur said. “The moment is never too big for him and he made a lot of great plays in this game. Not only with his arms, but also with his legs, his ability was greatly improved. I’m just really proud of our boys.”

Willis, formerly of the Tennessee Titans, started for the Packers in Weeks 2 and 3 of this season and led Green Bay to victories in both contests. In those two games, he completed 25 of 33 passes for 324 yards and two touchdowns.

Ahead of each of the above competitions at the start of the season, Willis had the opportunity to work with the first team's attack. He didn't have the opportunity to do that this week, which makes his performance on Sunday all the more impressive.

“It's always difficult to reach out to the backup quarterback because all of his representatives run the scout team in practice. So he didn’t get traction with the (game) plan,” LaFleur said. “(Packers offensive assistant) Sean Mannion, (assistant quarterbacks coach) Connor Lewis are doing a great job staying with him after practice to work on getting the reps on the air. But there's nothing better than going out and doing the right thing. And I thought he played as well as we ever expected him to. I thought he did a really good job.”

If Willis were to start next Sunday, it would be his first career start against the Lions. Love now has four career games (two starts) against Detroit under his belt and has thrown for 648 yards, five touchdowns and four interceptions in those contests.

The talented quarterback will undergo further testing, but Love is believed to have avoided a long-term injury.

The Packers (6-2), who have won four straight, are a half-game behind the Lions (6-1) for first place in the NFC North.