Retired QBs detail improvement of Packers' Jordan Love

Injured New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers isn't the only noteworthy person who noticed Green Bay Packers starting signal-caller Jordan Love showed significant improvement over his past handful of outings. 

"Six or seven weeks ago, I was like, 'Damn, I don’t know if he’s going to be able to do this. It doesn’t look good,'" retired quarterback and current NBC Sports NFL analyst Chris Simms told Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post for a piece published Thursday. "The training wheels were on the offense. But he’s really turned a corner to where I go, 'They’ve got their guy. This is real. This isn’t just some three-game fantasy.' I think we’ll see better and better from Jordan Love." 

According to Dunleavy, Love and Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys are tied for the NFL's second-highest quarterback rating over the past three weeks, behind only San Francisco 49ers starter Brock Purdy. En route to guiding the Packers to a third straight victory Sunday, Love completed 25-of-36 passes for 267 yards and three touchdowns in a 27-19 home win over the Kansas City Chiefs. 

"Especially last game against the Chiefs, I think was his best overall game," retired quarterback and NFL Network personality Chase Daniel told Dunleavy about Love. "They had so many checks at the line of scrimmage that he had a lot of mental gymnastics to go through. They were going on 'two' or 'three' in the cadence almost every play and he had 2-3 plays [to decide between] on like 60, 70 percent of the snaps." 

During Love's first season as Green Bay's full-time starter, the club improved from 2-5 to 6-6 heading into the upcoming "Monday Night Football" game at the 4-8 New York Giants. Per ESPN stats, Love began Thursday ranked 14th in the league among qualified players with a 58.4 adjusted QBR, 13th with 2,866 passing yards and tied for fifth with 22 passing touchdowns on the campaign. 

"What I love about Jordan is he’s a pretty aggressive decision-maker, and he’s fearless," Simms added. "...Jordan doesn’t care who is around him. His eyes stay down the field. If he is about to be hit, but there’s a 30-yard completion to be had down the field, he throws it and takes the hit." 

Meanwhile, Daniel mentioned Love was more than just a game manager while leading the Packers to wins over the Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers and Detroit Lions. 

"The last three games, he put the team on his back and carried them to victory," Daniel said about Love. "They’ve beaten good teams during this winning streak, and that has to mean a world of confidence — not just to Jordan but to the people around him, too." 

The Packers enter Week 14 as the No. 7 seed in the NFC. As of Thursday afternoon, the ESPN Football Power Index gave Green Bay a 67.1% chance to make the playoffs.