Malik Willis acknowledges he wasn’t ready the last time he had to start an NFL game. The Green Bay Packers quarterback knew he’d be more prepared the next time an opportunity arose.
With plenty of help from his new teammates, Willis went out and proved it Sunday by helping the Packers beat the Indianapolis Colts 16-10 on Sunday in Green Bay.
Acquired on Aug. 27 in a trade with the Tennessee Titans, Willis threw his first career touchdown pass to help the Packers withstand the absence of the injured Jordan Love.
“I don’t think you guys can appreciate or even comprehend the task that Malik Willis (faced),” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “This guy got here three weeks ago.”
Love didn’t play after injuring his left medial collateral ligament during the final series of a 34-29 season-opening loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 6 in Brazil. It was the first game Love missed since taking over as Green Bay’s starting quarterback last year.
The Packers (1-1) relied on an all-around effort to win without Love. Josh Jacobs ran for 151 yards on 32 carries to lead Green Bay’s 261-yard rushing attack. The defense hounded Anthony Richardson into three interceptions.
But the Packers might not have won without Willis’ steadiness.
Willis had made three previous starts — all in 2022 — and hadn’t thrown for 100 yards in any of them. Tennessee dealt Willis for a seventh-round pick after he couldn’t beat out Mason Rudolph for the right to back up Titans starter Will Levis.
“I’m just grateful for God giving me another opportunity somewhere different, a clean slate, just giving me the opportunity to be around guys who’ve helped me get going in this past three weeks as far as just learning as much as I can,” Willis said.
Willis played efficiently and went 12 of 14 for 122 yards, including a 14-yard touchdown pass to Dontayvion Wicks. Brayden Narveson went 3 of 4 on field-goal attempts to account for Green Bay’s other points.
Colts running back Jonathan Taylor rushed for 103 yards on 12 carries but didn’t touch the ball in the fourth quarter. Richardson was 17 of 34 for 204 yards with one touchdown to go with his three interceptions. He also ran for 37 yards on four carries.
“We started out slow as a group, especially as an offense,” Richardson said. “We definitely can’t do that. We know we’re better than that.”
The Packers didn’t need Willis to throw the ball much early because they were running wild against the Colts’ porous defense, enabling them to take a 10-0 advantage in the first quarter. That lead would reach 13-0 early in the third.
Green Bay ended up running the ball on 53 of its 67 snaps.
The Packers gained 164 rushing yards in the first quarter alone, the highest first-quarter total for any NFL team since the Denver Broncos had 167 in a 41-23 loss to the New England Patriots on Dec. 18, 2011. By halftime, the Packers had 237 yards on 34 carries.
“We knew we had to come in and run the ball today,” Jacobs said. “We knew we had to set that tone.”
The Colts (0-2) were coming off a 29-27 loss to the Houston Texans in which they allowed 213 rushing yards, the highest total any team gave up in Week 1.
“We’ve got to get it fixed,” Colts coach Shane Steichen said. “It starts with myself, I’m the head coach, and we’ve got to get in that meeting room on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and get it fixed. And that’s the bottom line.”
Green Bay blew a chance to break the game open early in the second quarter when Jacobs fumbled on first-and-goal from the 4. Zaire Franklin forced the fumble that Laiatu Latu recovered in the end zone.
The Colts’ run defense stiffened in the second half, but they couldn’t come all the way back because their offense failed to capitalize on opportunities. They failed to score on three trips into Packers territory.
Indianapolis cut the Packers’ lead to 16-10 on Richardson’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Alec Pierce with 1:47 left, but Green Bay’s Evan Williams recovered the ensuing onside kick.
The Colts got the ball back at their 5-yard line with 43 seconds left, but Williams intercepted a Hail Mary attempt from the Indianapolis 41 to end the game.
Injuries: Colts DT DeForest Buckner was helped off the field in the third quarter. … Latu left with a hip injury in the second half. … The Colts were playing without S Julian Blackmon (shoulder) and WR Josh Downs (ankle). … Packers G Jordan Morgan didn’t play in the second half due to a shoulder injury. … RB MarShawn Lloyd hurt his ankle.
Up next: The Colts host the Chicago Bears next Sunday. The Packers visit the Titans.
Vikings 23, 49ers 17
The struggles Sam Darnold endured through his first five years in the NFL relegated him to backup duty last season with the San Francisco 49ers, yet another prospect failing to perform like a premium draft pick.
He’s quickly regaining his status in Minnesota.
Darnold passed for 268 yards and two touchdowns against his former team, including a 97-yard strike in the second quarter to Justin Jefferson, and an actively attacking defense again fueled the Vikings in a 23-17 victory over the 49ers on Sunday in Minneapolis.
“Sam has been making a whole bunch of great decisions. We’ve got to just keep trusting in him to make those decisions,” Jefferson said.
Chief among those smart choices was to join the Vikings, who needed a veteran to stabilize the offense before turning it over to rookie J.J. McCarthy — who suffered a season-ending knee injury last month.
“The amount of work that goes into that position on your quarterback journey when everybody decides that you cannot play — we always believed in him,” coach Kevin O’Connell said. “It felt awesome to watch him go do that thing.”
Darnold was 17 of 26 with one interception for the Vikings (2-0), who got three field goals from rookie Will Reichard and 146 rushing yards (6.1 per attempt) in their most productive ground game in nearly three years.
Blake Cashman had 13 tackles, three passes defensed and a sack and Patrick Jones II had two of the six sacks of Brock Purdy, who threw two interceptions and found himself playing from behind all game.
“We’ve got the players. We’ve got the scheme. We’ve got what it takes,” said Purdy, who went 28 of 36 for 319 yards. “It’s dropping back and executing and getting the ball into guys’ hands.”
Overcoming two red-zone turnovers that the 49ers (1-1) turned into touchdowns and a quadriceps injury that forced Jefferson out of the game in the third quarter, Darnold and the Vikings put on a show in his home debut after he backed up Purdy last season for the NFC champions.
But as far as a statement win by a team pegged for last place in the NFC North by most prognostications or a told-you-so performance by a quarterback on the scrap heap of public opinion, well, he’s not there.
“I don’t get into narratives like that,” Darnold said. “The biggest thing for us is just continuing to take it one day at a time.”
Jordan Mason rushed 20 times for 100 yards and a touchdown for the 49ers in another fine fill-in for All-Pro Christian McCaffrey, who will miss at least two more games with lower leg injuries.
The Vikings might well have won in a runaway were it not for Fred Warner, the three-time All-Pro linebacker who made his NFL debut for the 49ers in the season opener at Minnesota in 2018.
Warner, who finished with nine tackles and two passes defensed, made a diving interception at the San Francisco 10 to thwart a promising drive with the Vikings leading 10-0. The 49ers seized the momentum with a five-play march capped with a touchdown pass from Purdy to George Kittle.
Then in the fourth quarter with the Vikings ahead 20-7, Warner jarred the ball loose from Aaron Jones at the 1-yard line at the end of an 18-yard run.
Kittle had seven catches for 76 yards to post the third-most receiving yards (6,390) through 100 games by a tight end in NFL history. Rob Gronkowski (7,112) and Travis Kelce (6,762) were the only ones with more.
The 49ers lost for the eighth straight time in Minnesota, including for the second straight year after a 22-17 loss in Week 7 on a Monday night last season. Their most recent win there was in 1992.
Injuries: 49ers S Talanoa Hufanga (knee) missed a second straight game. His backup, George Odum, was the last line of defense on Jefferson’s TD. … Coach Kyle Shanahan said “nobody knows” when McCaffrey will be back. … Vikings WR Jordan Addison (ankle) was inactive after getting injured in last week’s game. … Rookie OLB Dallas Turner left with a knee injury that wasn’t deemed serious, O’Connell said.
Up next: The 49ers visit the Los Angeles Rams next Sunday. They had a 10-game regular-season winning streak against their division rival end with a 21-20 loss to the Rams on Jan. 7, 2024. That was Darnold’s only start for the 49ers. … The Vikings host the Houston Texans on Sept. 22. They’re 5-0 all time against the Texans.
Buccaneers 20, Lions 16
Baker Mayfield took one step back, planted his left foot and took off for a zig-zagging, 11-yard touchdown run that gave the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the lead for good in a playoff rematch.
Mayfield’s touchdown on a designed run came one snap after converting a third down with another 11-yard run late in the third quarter, and the Bucs beat the Lions 20-16 on Sunday in Detroit.
“I wasn’t expecting to get to the end zone from that far out, but I made a couple guys miss,” Mayfield said after the longest touchdown run of his career.
The Bucs (2-0) fell behind only once in the closely contested game, and they stopped the Lions (1-1) when they had two chances to drive for a go-ahead touchdown in the final minutes.
The Lions turned it over on downs at the Bucs 6 with 53 seconds left and again at their 26 with two seconds left.
Lions coach Dan Campbell lamented a mistake he made in the first half, causing confusion for his offense and special teams that had both units on the field. That drew a flag that ran off the clock and took away an opportunity to kick a short field goal and pull within four points.
“I asked this team to improve and they improved, but the coach cost them the game,” Campbell said. “It is a massive error on my part. I messed up.”
If Detroit made that field goal, it potentially would’ve been a kick away from winning the game in the fourth quarter.
“It was fortunate for us,” Bucs coach Todd Bowles acknowledged.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff threw two interceptions and got a break when defenders dropped two other passes that could have been picked off.
Goff finished 34 of 55 for 307 yards, and the offense he leads was 1 of 7 in the red zone.
“That’s ultimately the difference in the game,” he said. “If we score a couple touchdowns down there, we probably win the game.
“That’s a good team and we fought hard, but we made too many mistakes.”
Mayfield, meanwhile, was efficient through the air by completing 12 of 19 passes for 185 yards, including a tiebreaking 41-yard touchdown pass to Chris Godwin in the second quarter, with an interception. He also ran four times for 35 yards. Godwin had seven catches for 117 yards.
The Lions beat the Bucs 31-23 in the divisional round in January at home after a 20-6 win last October on the road, but they couldn’t overcome their miscues and missed opportunities at Ford Field.
“It’s so big for everybody on this team to stick together and get a different outcome than the last time we were here,” Mayfield said.
Bowles will not be surprised if the teams meet again in the postseason.
“If we can get there in January, I’m sure they’ll be there,” he said.
The Lions were relegated to field goals until David Montgomery ran for a go-ahead, 1-yard touchdown late in the third quarter.
Detroit’s Aidan Hutchinson had three sacks in the first quarter and finished with a career-high five sacks.
“We tried chipping him and tried to do a lot of things,” Bowles said. “He made our life miserable.”
Amon-Ra St. Brown had 11 receptions for 119 yards for the Lions.
Injuries: Bucs DT Vita Vea left the game with a knee injury, and Bowles did not have an update on his condition after the game. Three starters — OT Luke Goedeke (concussion), DL Calijah Kancey (calf) and S Antoine Winfield Jr. (foot) — were inactive with injuries. … Lions LB Alex Anzalone was knocked out of the game with a concussion, and starting DE Marcus Davenport (groin) was inactive.
Up next: The Bucs host the Denver Broncos on Sunday. The Lions play the Cardinals in Arizona.
