GREEN BAY, Wis. — NFL preseason games are not conducive to bold and sweeping conclusions, especially when a team like the Green Bay Packers doesn’t play their starters.

Still, Sunday night’s 27-2 preseason loss by the Packers in Denver left me with one unshakable impression: let’s hope Jordan Love stays healthy for all 17 games. 

Sean Clifford and Michael Pratt are both fine young men. I’m not qualified to say they won’t ever be quality NFL quarterbacks.

All I’m saying is that it would be very difficult for the Packers to win if Love got hurt. That’s not a news flash or rare insight.

This is also not unique to the Packers. Most NFL teams play the salary cap game by paying a lot to the starting quarterback and a little to the backup.

This all makes perfect sense until the starter gets hurt. Packers fans need only to look at 2017 for documentation. Brett Hundley was not able to properly step into Aaron Rodgers’ shoes when he got injured. The Packers finished 7-9.

I get the logic. Why pay big money to a backup who’s going to spend most of his time holding a clipboard?

Last year, it wasn’t a big deal when the Packers went with a rookie backup quarterback. Expectations were low. It didn’t seem to matter as much.

This year, the Packers and their fans think they can contend. It will be up to Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst and head coach Matt LaFleur to decide whether the stakes are high enough to bring in a veteran backup quarterback.

In the meantime, better keep Love healthy.