Former coaches feel they know the keys that could unlock Jordan Love's playoff potential. Can the Green Bay Packers take their advice?
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love has all the potential in the world to be the best of the best. He's got that "it" factor that you look for in franchise quarterbacks.
Heck, that's why the Packers gave him a four-year, $220 million contract extension in 2024, and that's why even with backup Malik Willis flashing some real potential, there is no quarterback controversy in Green Bay.
Love is cool, calm, and collected. He doesn't get rattled and never gets too high or too low. He represents the franchise well both on and off the field, and he has otherworldly arm talent. At least once a game, Love will make a throw that just about nobody else in the world can make.
The issue for Love so far early on in his career is that he'll also seemingly make one throw per game that will cause you to wonder what the heck he's looking at out there. It's usually just one and at the most two bad throws, but those can be costly and they've held him back from truly reaching an MVP level like his predecessors Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre.
That consistently elite quarterback is in there, though. Heck, former head coach Mike McCarthy can see it, and he watched Rodgers go from a backup to a starter with potential to a four-time MVP and Super Bowl winner.
"With Aaron, in 2009, just having him run the full scope of the offense was the thing that allowed him to take that big jump, and I see that same thing in Jordan now," McCarthy said, per Rob Demovsky of ESPN. "I really like Jordan Love."
For McCarthy, it comes down to one thing with Love, or any other NFL quarterback for that matter. It's all about confidence.
McCarthy saw a confident quarterback when he was head coach of the Dallas Cowboys and Love and the upstart Packers came into Dallas and beat his team, 48-32. Love threw for 272 yards and three touchdowns in that game with no turnovers. The very next game in the divisional matchup with the San Francisco 49ers, though, Love threw two interceptions, including one on a potential game-tying or even game-winning drive.
With Love, McCarthy seems to believe that confidence determines whether he's playing sharp or making mistakes.
"Obviously, he had his huge game against us," McCarthy said. "That was a statement game down there in the playoff game. He's had some mistakes, the interception he had out there in San Francisco after that, but the gauge to really judge him by -- and with all these quarterbacks, I've always felt -- is his confidence level.
"I see a much, much more confident quarterback. I got to see him play live four times this year, and I like him. I think there's definitely more there."
Love missed the last two games of the season as he recovered from a concussion he suffered in Week 16, but he still threw for 3,381 yards and 23 touchdowns with just six interceptions. He took care of the ball much better this season, and as a result, he looked like an MVP candidate for much of the campaign. It should also be no surprise, then, that more often than not, the few games that saw him throw an interception were tough ones for the Pack.
At the end of the day, former head coach Mike Holmgren, who coached Favre and won a Super Bowl with the Packers, believes that consistency is key for Love, and that includes consistency in his offensive scheme.
With head coach and play-caller Matt LaFleur's contract with the team expiring after the 2026 season, one has to wonder if new team president Ed Policy will take that into consideration when it comes to evaluating Green Bay's head coach.
As Holmgren sees it, staying in the same system and scheme is very important for a young quarterback.
"If Love can stay with the same system and same coach for a while, that helps," Holmgren said. "That really helps. LaFleur and those guys there right now are doing a good job. They're consistent, they've been there a while. So he's in a good spot."