Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) looks to pass in the second quarter at Bank of America Stadium. Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

The Packers' season has been a huge success because of Jordan Love

The 2023 season was all about Jordan Love for the Green Bay Packers.

Win, lose or draw — playoffs or not — everything coming into this campaign centered around Love. 

The Packers traded up for him in the 2020 draft and in the process, started an ever-growing rift between the organization and future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers. That rift culminated with the Packers trading Rodgers to the New York Jets this offseason.

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst traded Rodgers hoping that Love could be "the guy" to replace the Hall of Famer who replaced the Hall of Famer (Brett Favre). 

Everything was riding on whether or not Love could be the heir apparent, and now 15 games in, it's rather apparent that Love can be a franchise quarterback.

He'll likely never ascend to the level of Rodgers or Favre, but coming off a 219-yard, two touchdown and zero interception performance against the Carolina Panthers, Love's fitness for the position has never been more evident.

The Packers are 7-8 and in playoff contention. They're on the bubble, sure, and this team is extremely flawed, but it has become clear that Love is the future for the Packers at quarterback. 

With a young offense featuring Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs, Dontayvion Wicks, Christian Watson, Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave — the future has arguably never been brighter in Green Bay (at least on defense).

The very fact that Love has the Packers in playoff contention is a massive win for the Packers considering the odds that he would be a serviceable quarterback, let alone a good one.

The win against Carolina was Love's eighth game this season with a passer rating over 100 and his 27 touchdowns tie him for third-best in the league with Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills and Jared Goff of the Detroit Lions.

In fact, Love is only two touchdowns behind Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers (29) and three behind Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys (30).

He's arguably a top-10 quarterback in his first year as a starter in the league. Even if the Packers end up missing the playoffs, this fact alone is a huge win for a Green Bay organization that was taking a huge chance by moving on from Rodgers arguably a year or two too early.

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