Green Bay Packers' star quarterback Jordan Love outplayed Aaron Rodgers on Sunday Night Football, proving his elite status and cementing his place as an NFL MVP contender.
Jordan Love has arrived. The Green Bay Packers have their franchise quarterback, and he has officially submitted his name into the NFL's 2025 MVP race.
If that wasn't abundantly clear before Sunday Night Football, the Packers made the right choice by moving on from their old franchise quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, when they did.
Much like it was controversial when the Pack drafted Rodgers to become the heir apparent to Brett Favre in 2005, General Manager Brian Gutekunst put his neck on the line when he selected Love with the 26th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft despite having a quarterback still in his prime on the roster in Rodgers.
Gutekunst then stuck his neck on the line again when he traded Rodgers to the New York Jets in April of 2023, but that draft pick and subsequent trade has paid off for the Packers.
Never was it more abundant than on Sunday Night Football when the Packers travelled to the steel city to take on Rodgers' Pittsburgh Steelers. Yes, the Pack came out of the gate sluggish and yes, Rodgers had a few vintage moments in him.
The end result was a 35-25 Green Bay win that wasn't even that close, though, and it was extremely clear which of the two quarterbacks was the best on the field when all was said and done.
It's not like Rodgers was terrible. He completed 24-of-36 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns. He was sacked three times, though, and by the end of the game he looked all of his 41 years. His passer rating was 101.5 and his QBR was 38.7.
In the meantime, Love completed 29-of-37 passes for 360 yards and three touchdowns. He boasted a passer rating of 134.2 and a QBR of 89.1.
When it comes to QBR, the average NFL quarterback hovers around 50. A Pro Bowl-level quarterback can check in around 75. Love's 89.1 is elite. Yes, it's one game, but that's an MVP-type metric.
At one point, he completed 20-straight passes. Rodgers never did that as a Packer. Love tied Brett Favre for that mark, so now he's creating his own type of history and legacy in Green Bay.
When all was said and done, it was a huge moment for the Packers, and Love came up huge.
He was cool, calm and collected. Speaking of Favre and Rodgers, there are times when Love plays that you can see both Hall of Famers in his game, and he showed that off on primetime while helping the Packers improve to 5-1-1.
There was the precision of the 20-straight passes, which is a trait he undoubtedly learned from Rodgers. And then there was this Favre-ian play:
Between the two of them, Favre and Rodgers totalled seven NFL MVP awards.
Love may now be well on his way towards being in the conversation for his first.
He's now thrown for 2,158 yards and 16 touchdowns compared to two interceptions on the season.