Jordan Love can still be an NFL MVP candidate but the Packers quarterback has work to do in 2024.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love has been underwhelming this season. There’s little doubt that the Green Bay Packers quarterback has superstar potential, but he just hasn’t consistently found it in his second season as a starter in the post-Aaron Rodgers era.
That’s not to say Love hasn’t been good. Despite missing two games due to an MCL injury and half of a third with a groin injury he suffered against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 8, Love is still the third-leading touchdown thrower in the NFL (tied with Joe Burrow with 15 touchdown passes).
The Packers are 6-2 and undoubtedly look the part of a Super Bowl contender. They haven’t been perfect, but their offense has a balance between being explosive downfield and tough in the run game, thanks to Josh Jacobs. The Packers running back is tied for first in the NFL with Derrick Henry (145 carries). Jacobs has also rushed for 667 yards and three touchdowns and has provided the Packers with a steady rushing presence they haven’t had in years.
The Packers have a huge Week 9 matchup with the 6-1 Detroit Lions that will determine who becomes the front-runner in the extremely tough NFC North midway through the season. Though Love missed half of the Jacksonville game with an injury and is officially listed as questionable, he does believe he can “go” against the Lions, even with limited or no practice. On Wednesday, he didn’t practice, but he still seemed optimistic about playing.
“I think it’s realistic,” Love said of the possibility of playing against the Lions, according to Rob Demovsky of ESPN. “Obviously not practicing during the week is not the ideal format for trying to play a game. Like I said, things happen, if that’s the scenario, I know I’ll be fine. But definitely it’s not the ideal scenario for going into a big week.”
It’s not the ideal scenario for Love in a season that has not been ideal. That’s not to say the Packers quarterback can’t turn it on, though, and once again be thought of as an MVP-like quarterback by the end of the 2024 season.
First and foremost, though, he needs to get healthy.
Jordan Love needs to get healthy to play great
Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images
The unspoken fact this season in Green Bay is that Love has been hampered by injury. That wasn’t the case in Week 1, but when he went down at the end of the game against the Philadelphia Eagles with the knee injury, it seemed as if he never came back fully healthy. He missed two weeks with a strained MCL, but he was gimpy in his first game back from the injury against the Minnesota Vikings. In that game, he threw four touchdowns but also threw four interceptions.
Speaking of the interceptions, that’s also something Love needs to stop. Full stop.
He threw another bad one against the Jaguars and has now thrown an interception in every game he’s played this season. He leads the league with nine interceptions. Ironically, that ties him with Baker Mayfield and Patrick Mahomes — which is interesting company at the top of that leaderboard.
Love has just made some bad throws. Sure, some of it is the “gunslinger” mentality that he may have inherited from Brett Favre as a form of osmosis by just being in Green Bay. He’s made some tremendous throws and has thrown a few interceptions by just trying to make a big play and be aggressive. That’s not something he’s planning on changing, either, because it’s part of what makes him great.
“It’s the NFL, there’s not always going to be wide-open guys,” Love said after a 24-22 win over the Houston Texans that saw him throw three touchdowns but also two interceptions. “It’s going to be tight windows; you’ve got to fit the ball in there sometimes, and I’m going to keep playing. Learn and grow from the mistakes, the interceptions, and just keep playing, keep moving on.”
Love does have the “superpower” of being unflappable and super even-keeled, but those interceptions have severely hampered the Packers’ offense this season, especially against a juggernaut of a team in the Lions, even one turnover can be the difference between winning and losing.
Outside of the Lions in Week 9 and a re-match between the two in early December, the Packers still have big NFC North matchups against the Chicago Bears (twice) and another against the Vikings. That doesn’t even include a big game against the San Francisco 49ers in late November.
If Love can stop his interception problem while still throwing multiple touchdowns a game, he’ll move back up the ranks of NFL quarterbacks in 2024. If the Packers win the NFC North this season, and Love is a major reason why, instead of an impediment to their progress, being in the MVP conversation is still a possibility.
First, he has to get healthy. From there, it comes down to playing clean football and winning games.