Regardless of how Jordan Love’s season ended, it was an unmitigated success. He put himself in place to safe a bag from Inexperienced Bay this offseason, obliterated the Dallas Cowboys with a 3-touchdown efficiency in his playoff debut, and was an throughout feel-good story regardless of the sad ending. However Love does comes with a warning label that was previewed within the Packers’ season finale. Within the capstone second of his and the Packers season, Love reverted again to his primordial type. Trailing 24-21 to the San Francisco 49ers with a minute and alter to go, Love was matriculating the ball downfield with ease.
Nonetheless, on a primary and 10 from their very own 36 within the closing minute, Love escaped the pocket as Nick Bosa shed a block, charged in the direction of him with malice, then sailed it throughout his physique in the course of the sector when a throw away would have sufficed. Dre Greenlaw simply picked it off, placing a pin within the Packers season.
In that battle or flight second, Love’s core instincts return and we caught a whiff of why he tumbled within the draft three years in the past. Most quarterbacks are topic to ups and downs, however that gravity impacts Love greater than most. Brett Favre was well-known for these highway rage moments the place he’d make irrational choices together with his arm when he discovered the offense caught in visitors. He famously made the same throw with the Vikings throughout a tie recreation within the 2010 NFC Championship Sport.
Likewise, Love will often get that urge to handle an categorical bundle to the protection. He’d remained resistant to the turnover-bug as a starter this season, however the final time Love rode this excessive, he regressed below the limelight after a radiant 2018 marketing campaign the place he threw 32 touchdowns and 6 picks with a senior 12 months the place he led the whole nation in interceptions. Gun slinging is in his DNA.
On condition that Rodgers possessed the bottom interception proportion and touchdown-to-interception ratio in league historical past, Love’s tendencies have been much more of a priority to Packers skeptics once they scooped him within the first spherical. Love benefitted from being a developmental participant, however has been the identical Jekyll and Hyde passer with Inexperienced Bay.
In his most up-to-date begin in opposition to the Niners again within the 2022 preseason, Love threw a trio of picks in one other exhibiting that left Packers fans wondering if he’d grown out of that gunslinger section.
In the beginning of November, Love ranked thirty third amongst qualifying quarterbacks in completion proportion, was twenty fifth or worse in interception proportion, yards per try, and in passer score. In the meantime, the Packers offense had didn’t eclipse 20 factors in 5 consecutive weeks, their longest streak in 18 years.
Finally, Love’s blistering tempo down the stretch of the common season put these rocky moments in his rear view mirror till the ultimate drive Sunday — when he left Packer nation wanting extra. The truth that it appears like he was near reaching the NFC Championship Sport after a lot skepticism surrounded him whereas he stalked the sidelines for years as Aaron Rodgers’ reaper is a testomony to his expertise.
There would have been riots in Chicago if Love had completed that drive with an endzone foray or received it in additional time. For many years, the Bears have scoured the highest prospects within the drafts to no luck whereas the Packers maintain discovering diamonds on the road. Not solely that, however they narrowly averted a attainable NFC North Championship Weekend showdown.
The important thing to an encore efficiency for Love is proving that regression isn’t across the nook and that his season-ending throw was an aberration. After a decade of consistency from Rodgers, Inexperienced Bay is again within the crosshairs of one other gun slinger, for higher or worse.
