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Jordan Love injury: Howie Long, Michael Strahan argue over if Austin Booker hit was dirty

Danby: Daniel Hager12/21/25DanielHagerOn3

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love exited Saturday night’s NFC North clash against the Chicago Bears after taking a direct hit to the helmet from Bears defensive end Austin Booker. Booker was called for unnecessary roughness on the play.

The hit occurred with just over eight minutes remaining in the first half, leading backup quarterback Malik Willis to finish out the half for Green Bay. Love did not return to the game before the halftime break, and was eventually ruled out with a concussion.

During the FOX Halftime Show, Pro Football Hall of Famers Howie Long and Michael Strahan debated whether or not the hit was clean.

“I could turn into Clint Eastwood and say ‘get off my lawn’, but in my day this was legal,” Long said. “They were both purposeful and what you could call a dirty hit, particularly the second hit.“

Prior to the helmet-to-helmet hit which knocked Love out of the game, he suffered another hit from a Bears defender that left him on the turf for a few seconds.

“You’re running in there full speed,” Strahan responded. “You can’t call that man dirty for that.”

“The second one was a little rough,” Long refuted. “He piledrived him the first time, and he hit him with the helmet the second time.“

Prior to exiting due to the hit, Love had completed 8/13 passes for 77 yards. The Packers held a 3-0 lead, which soon extended to 6-0 before halftime thanks to another Brandon McManus field goal.

Jordan Love has started all 15 of Green Bay’s games this season

Love has started all 15 of Green Bay’s games so far this season, where he’s led the Pack to a 9-4-1 record. On the season, Love has completed 66% of his passes for 3,381 yards and 23 touchdowns with just six interceptions.

“Well the word on Jordan Love is that he is out for the game with a concussion,” FOX’s Erin Andrews said coming out of the halftime break. I spoke to Matt LaFleur coming out of the half and I said, ‘with Malik Willis, what do you feel comfortable keeping in and what do you take out with this offense?’ And he said, ‘I like the majority of what we have. The guy has been here for almost two years. He’s got a good grasp on this playbook. You saw that drive right there, and he did a good job. The only thing for us, much like last week against Denver, is that we need to finish and we need to sore when we’re in the redzone’.”

Willis, who replaced Love following the hit, had played in just two games prior to Saturday night’s game. The former Third Round draft pick played in seven games last season in relief of Love, passing for 550 yards and three touchdowns. He is 3-2 in five games as a starting quarterback in the NFL.

Green Bay has been snake bitten by the injury bug this season. That bad luck came to a head last Sunday night when All-Pro defensive end Micah Parsons tore his ACL in Green Bay’s 34-26 loss to the Denver Broncos. Parsons is just one of a handful of impactful players to miss extended time this season for the Packers, including Pro Bowl center Elgton Jenkins and tight end Tucker Kraft.