It seemed unthinkable that the Green Bay Packers could go from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers to another great quarterback. The odds of finding one MVP-level quarterback, let alone three in a row, are just too long.
But Jordan Love is on his way. In fact, could he be the best of the bunch?
Yes, Favre said.
“Great game and tough loss for my Packers,” Favre posted on X on Sunday morning. “I’m sure I speak for all Packer fans when I say, “We are very proud of you and can’t wait to see what the future holds.” Lots to be excited about. Jordan, keep your chin up because I believe you can be the best Packer QB yet.”
The “best” Packers quarterback? To even be in the conversation would be dumbfounding. Bart Starr won five NFL championships and one MVP and is in the Hall of Fame. Favre won one Super Bowl, three MVPs and is in the Hall of Fame. Rodgers won one Super Bowl, four MVPs and is a no-doubt-about-it Hall of Famer.
Love had a strong debut season – statistically superior to Rodgers, though that’s something of an apples-to-oranges comparison. While he finished only 11th in rating (96.0), 13th in yards per attempt (7.18) and 21st in completion percentage (64.2), he was the hottest quarterback in the NFL entering the playoffs.
During the final eight games, Love was second in rating (112.7), second in touchdowns (18), third in completion percentage (70.3) and ninth in yards per attempt (7.7). He threw just one interception; his touchdown-to-interception ratio of 18-to-1 far outdistancing runner-up Dak Prescott’s 6.3 (19 touchdowns, three interceptions).
For what it’s worth, Love is on a better trajectory than Favre or Rodgers. Favre and Rodgers didn’t get to the playoffs until their second seasons; Love beat Dallas with a superb playoff debut.
In 1993, his second season on the job, Favre led the Packers to the playoffs despite his league-worst 24 interceptions.
“We were making progress, but he was throwing too many interceptions,” former coach Mike Holmgren told Packer Central recently. “He knew, but then we had the come-to-Jesus moment where after the season I sat him down and said, ‘Okay, now we’ve got to eliminate this, we’ve got to do this,’ which I did every year with the quarterbacks.
“And then after my little talk to him he said, ‘Mike, this is just how I play. This is my game.’ And I said, ‘Look, do you want to get to the Super Bowl?’ He goes, ‘Yeah, of course.’ I said, ‘Unless you change some of this stuff, we'll get to the playoffs, we’ll be 9-7,, but we won't get there. It's up to you.’ And so, bless his heart, to his credit, he worked hard on eliminating some of the things that would lose a game we should win.”
Love threw two interceptions in the loss to San Francisco, one on a bad throw and the second on a bad decision on a do-or-die final drive.
“It’s tough. Very tough,” Love said. We had an opportunity to win that game and didn’t capitalize on it. It’s a tough way to end the season.”
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