GREEN BAY — Malik Willis couldn’t help but laugh. The scenario that had been presented to him was a little too on-the-nose when it comes to the life of a backup quarterback in the NFL — and how coaches and fans alike view the position when the regular season begins.

Hey, great job in the preseason, the fictional conversation began inside the Green Bay Packers locker room last week. You were really sharp. We love the progress you’ve made. You’ve got the offensive playbook down pat.

Then came the they-never-say-the-quiet-part-out-loud part.

Hopefully we don’t see you again — except in mop-up duty in blowout wins — the rest of the year.

“Pretty much,” Willis said, still chuckling.

Backup quarterbacks — including Willis — know the score. Heck, one national insurance company even built an advertising campaign around their oftentimes odd lot in life. https://www.progressive.com/commercials-campaigns/football/

But this week, backups aren’t a commercial punchline. They are the talk of the NFL town. And it’s serving as a worthwhile reminder of how fortunate the Packers believe they are to have Willis waiting in the wings behind starter Jordan Love.

• The Cincinnati Bengals’ 2-0 start is in peril after Joe Burrow suffered a toe injury that will require surgery, sidelining him for three months.

Backup Jake Browning will take over, although the Bengals also promoted Brett Rypien from the practice squad to the 53-man roster and signed ex-Packers backup (and Cincinnati-area native) Sean Clifford and vet backup Mike White to the practice squad.

• The Minnesota Vikings lost J.J. McCarthy to a high-ankle sprain for the next two to four weeks, forcing them to turn to journeyman backup Carson Wentz, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft who is now on his fifth team in five years — and didn’t sign with the Vikings until Aug. 24, after training camp ended.

• The San Francisco 49ers ran their record to 2-0 on Sunday with a win over the New Orleans Saints despite losing quarterback Brock Purdy for two to three weeks with toe and left (non-throwing) shoulder injuries. Ex-New England Patriots starter Mac Jones, Purdy’s backup, threw three touchdown passes and had a 113.1 passer rating in the win.

• And after being under siege for much of Thursday night’s 27-18 loss to the Packers, Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels’ status for Sunday is uncertain because of a knee injury he sustained against Green Bay. If he can’t go, Marcus Mariota will start for Washington against the Las Vegas Raiders.

All the while, the Packers can sit back and know they have a sensational security blanket in Willis, even as they cross their fingers and hope that Love stays healthy for all 17 games after an injury-plagued 2024.

“I think everybody in this locker room — based on what he did last year — has confidence that if anything happens and I’m not able to go, that he’ll be able to step in and run the ship,” said Love, who has completed 66% of his passes for 480 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions (120.0 rating) heading into Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns.

“I think everybody here has a lot of confidence in Mailk — and I think he’s earned it with the way he’s come in and worked.”

All Willis did last year was save the Packers’ season after being acquired from the Tennessee Titans at the end of training camp last summer for a seventh-round pick. And that’s not hyperbole.

After Love went down with a left knee injury in the waning seconds of the Packers’ season-opening loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Brazil, Willis engineered back-to-back victories over the Indianapolis Colts and the Titans in Weeks 2 and 3, and then came on in relief of Love in the second half of a Week 8 game at Jacksonville after Love left with a groin injury and led the Packers’ game-winning field-goal drive in the final minute.

For a team that needed all three of those wins to the postseason as the seventh and final seed in the NFC at 11-6, the reality is that the Packers would have been home for the playoffs without Willis.

“Malik won three games last year as our quarterback,” veteran cornerback Keisean Nixon said. “The arm talent’s always been there, the running game’s always been there.

“He’s definitely coached well here, so he’s taken a big step last year and he’s taken an even bigger jump this year.”

The 26-year-old Willis is in the final year of the four-year, $5.16 million contract he signed with the Titans as a 2022 third-round pick from Liberty. There’s at least one school of thought that the Packers should sign him to an extension the way the Chicago Bears did with their backup, Tyson Bagent, who got a two-year, $10 million extension (with a potential value of $16 million) to continue backing up Caleb Williams.

“We’ve got a lot of confidence in Malik,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “I think he is just scratching the surface of what he can become, just the dual threat that he is as a quarterback.

“I think it’s problematic for most defenses. Certainly, that’s one of his superpowers, his ability to get out of the pocket and create off-schedule or scramble and create big plays.

“And I think he’s really come a long way in terms of the fundamentals of the position and just making good decisions.”

The Bengals reportedly called around to teams across the league inquiring about possibly trading for a backup. Presumably, after what Willis did last season, the Packers were one of the teams whose phone rang,

But no trade happened — and it would presumably take an offer the Packers couldn’t refuse to get general manager Brian Gutekunst to put himself in the same situations some of the aforementioned teams are dealing with.

If somehow they traded Willis, they’d be left with practice-squad QB Clayton Tune after cutting Clifford and Canadian import Taylor Elgersma at the end of training camp. Tune started one game for the Arizona Cardinals as a rookie fifth-round pick in 2023 and has thrown 23 regular-season passes in his two years in the league.

The Packers also reportedly worked out Dorian Thompson-Robinson this week, although it was unclear if his workout was already arranged before any calls were made by the Bengals about possible trades. Thompson-Robinson, a 2023 fifth-round pick, started five games over the last two years for the Browns.

“Obviously going into Year 2 of this offense for him, I think he’s done a great job of just understanding the system a lot better,” Love said of why Willis is so trusted. “I think he’s a phenomenal player, I think he’s one of those guys that, once he gets live into action, a whole ‘nother skill set comes out with his legs and his off-schedule plays.

“I think you guys have been able to see how special a player he is and how much potential he has. And I think he’s still just scratching the surface of what he can do.”

For his part, Willis is sticking with his one-day-at-a-time approach and God-has-a-plan mentality. He knows what he did last year as the new guy was crucial, but he’s moved on.

“There’s no real correlation to last year. This is a new season, this is a new opportunity, this is a new — everything.” Willis said. “It was definitely beneficial to go in there and get reps. Experience is everything in this league — especially at the quarterback position. So, I definitely was grateful for the opportunity and that God put that in front of me.

“[But] that’s all part of the story. When you look at these things as they come, maybe I was in Tennessee being like, ‘Aw, this is the worst.’ And then last year, I’d be like, ‘Oh, this is the best!’

“You can’t be wishy-washy like that. You’ve just got to take it one day at a time and be grateful for the opportunities, grateful to wake up every morning and take it from there.”

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