The Green Bay Packers were 3-6 after Week 10. They made it to the divisional round of the playoffs anyway… and still found a way to crush their fans.
That’s because the NFL’s youngest team played like it, and it was led by their first-year starter quarterback.
Jordan Love wasn’t the only player who shrank against the spotlight Saturday night in Santa Clara. He was just the most visible. His regrettable fourth quarter saw a seven-point lead evaporate as the San Francisco 49ers advanced to their fourth NFC championship game in five years, 24-21.
Love had three fourth quarter drives in which he could have either extended the Packers’ lead or taken it back from a rallying Niners. In that stretch he fired five completions on nine attempts for a dismal 18 yards. His final throw of the night was a Day 1 mistake, rolling to his right and throwing to his left across the middle of the field. It was a pass with zero chance of success and a massive liability — one the 49ers wouldn’t let slide.
SAY IT WITH US: BIG PLAY DRE 🗣#GBvsSF on FOX
📱 NFL+ // https://t.co/KTh0i4oaLh pic.twitter.com/vFYhu65gWl— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) January 21, 2024
That ended a game in which Green Bay pushed six drives inside the San Francisco 25-yard line and scored just 21 points. Again, Saturday’s flaws didn’t solely belong to Love, but when his team needed him he looked very much like a first-year starter who couldn’t rise to the moment. He left points on the hashmarks and, in the biggest moment of his career, embodied all the worst gunslinging traits of the quarterbacks who preceded him.
This is a shame, because Love’s second playoff start also showcased all the reasons why Green Bay should be happy with his growth. Let’s talk about the good and bad of Jordan Love — and take a look at whether or not the guy who beat him, Brock Purdy, belongs in the circle of trust.
Jordan Love flashed early and faded late.
Love’s success in his first season as a starter has been predicated on his ability to loft accurate throws to wide open targets schemed into space by head coach Matt LaFleur’s playcalling. But while he had a handful of those throws in Santa Clara, he also proved he could lift the offense with his arm in big moments and missile strikes in tight windows on the sideline:
Just a ridiculous throw by Jordan Love 🎯
📺: #GBvsSF on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/yDUx5ZutVa pic.twitter.com/DIhLrPp7IF— NFL (@NFL) January 21, 2024
Later in the game, Love faced third-and-15 with little hope of conversion, But the fourth-year QB was smart enough to underthrow a deep ball, going to WR4 Bo Melton, in part, because he was covered by Ambry Thomas, who has the second-worst passer rating allowed in coverage of any San Francisco defensive back. When that floater hung in the air, Thomas contacted Melton for a 41-yard pass interference penalty.
Drive saved. One play later, Love got to do that thing where he slings the ball to a wide open receiver; i.e. the crux of the Packers’ playbook.
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) January 21, 2024
But if we’re going to point out one play on which the Packers can hang their hat, it came later in the third quarter. The pass that suggests Love can be a worthy successor to Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers — you know, on the field specifically and not one bit off it — wasn’t a touchdown throw. But it did set one up.
every Jordan Love pass is terrifying until it isn't pic.twitter.com/h50sUk1MmA
— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) January 21, 2024
This was a terrifying throw in real time. A back-foot shot over the middle. At first glance it seems to be behind Romeo Doubs, too.
But this is a laser from Love, all while getting cracked by Nick Bosa in the backfield. It’s not behind Doubs; it’s put in a place a fast-closing safety or a trailing cornerback can’t get to it but his intended target can. And since Doubs has developed a connection with his quarterback, he knows to sit down in that space and adjust back to the ball for a 15-yard gain. Two plays later, the Packers had their first touchdown from the red zone.
These good vibes didn’t last. While Purdy had his interceptable passes dropped, the 49ers turned Love’s worst throw of the first 59 minutes — a horribly off-target checkdown — into an easy turnover.
BIG PLAY DRE #GBvsSF on FOX
📱 NFL+ // https://t.co/KTh0i4oaLh pic.twitter.com/087HTo8OrV— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) January 21, 2024
A third-and-short pass the very next drive was so far behind an open Aaron Jones that it should have been picked off. Love was asked to step up in the fourth quarter and instead dug himself a hole with a stick of dynamite before jumping in. After chalking up 7.9 expected points added (EPA) in the first three quarters, he slunk to a -6.3 EPA in the final frame, giving San Francisco just enough space to steal a win.
So let’s talk about the young quarterback who’ll be happy drinking Saturday night.
Brock Purdy was a mess, but rose up when the Niners needed him most
Purdy had an extremely familiar game for 49ers fans. He was a flawed quarterback capable of keeping his offense rolling in stretches but also lobbing up roughly one terrible pass per quarter. In years past, this was known as the Jimmy Garoppolo special.
The rainy conditions in Santa Clara clearly affected a quarterback who’d completed a shade under 70 percent of his passes in the regular season. He began the game with a glove, then made bad reads that had nothing to do with his touch on the ball. Later, he’d take the glove off… and continue to make bad throws.
well, at least he's not taking many sacks pic.twitter.com/TCfM1jciBN
— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) January 21, 2024
The Packers rarely blitzed but still managed to make Purdy uncomfortable, leading to rushed, off-target throws over the middle that lived on the border of disaster. Green Bay dropped a pair of would-be interceptions and the second-year quarterback had completed only 15 of his 27 passes for 184 yards in the first three quarters.
But he proved to be a high efficiency, low-risk passer in all the ways Love wasn’t with the game on the line. This conversion didn’t lead to anything more than a punt from inside Packers territory, but it gave Purdy and his passing game the confidence to make the game-winning rally that followed.
Purdy and Jauan Jennings coming up clutch on 3rd down
📺: #GBvsSF on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/yDUx5ZutVa pic.twitter.com/ZbXD1VkZRM— NFL (@NFL) January 21, 2024
Purdy’s fourth quarter saw him go eight for 12 with 68 yards through the air, zero touchdowns and zero interceptions. It wasn’t incredible, but it was enough.
San Francisco can live with enough. That’s been a tenet behind Kyle Shanahan’s entire head coaching career. Purdy delivered when Love didn’t, and that’s why the Niners will play next weekend and the Packers will not.
Still, both teams can be satisfied that they’ve found their franchise quarterbacks. Even if they know full well each has a lot of growing left to do.
