He’ll want back a red-zone throw that sailed on him, but Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love produced an otherwise encouraging performance during Sunday’s 20-19 win over the Chicago Bears.
Save for the one miss that led to an interception, Love was accurate. He hit a pair of deep passes down the field. He was perfect on passes over 10 yards in the air. He was perfect on passes under pressure. He looked more comfortable throwing from a base platform and more mobile outside the pocket. And he led the Packers on a go-ahead touchdown drive late.
Love completed 13 of 17 passes for 261 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He averaged 15.4 yards per attempt and 20.0 yards per completion.
Factoring in one throwaway and one drop, Love’s adjusted completion percentage was 87.5 — his best of the season.
He connected on two passes thrown over 20 yards — one on a 25-yarder to Christian Watson setting up a touchdown, and another on a 48-yarder in which Watson made a contested catch between two defenders.
Love was perfect on passes over 10 yards in the air, completing all six pass attempts for 182 yards and a touchdown.
Under pressure, Love was 8-for-8 passing for 185 yards — averaging an incredible 23.1 yards per attempt — with two scrambles, including one that set up his go-ahead touchdown run in the fourth quarter. A play prior, Love hung in the pocket and delivered a strike to Watson just before getting hit, leading to a 60-yard explosive play.
The catch-and-run play from Watson here is awesome. The highlight of the play no doubt.
Don't miss the touch from Jordan Love to feather this ball to give Watson a chance as he's taking a shot right in the chops. Gorgeous. pic.twitter.com/F8Bci4NjOk
— Peter Bukowski (@Peter_Bukowski) November 18, 2024
In the first half, Love fired a fastball to Jayden Reed on a free play for a score. He threw from a perfect base. Later, he made a terrific throw from a muddy pocket to Watson to convert 3rd-and-11. Both times, Love stepped into the throw and put some juice on the ball. At least four different times, Love was able to break contain of the pocket and extend a play off-schedule, including one where he stepped up to his right and found Romeo Doubs for 17 yards. It was clear the knee and the groin felt a lot better post-bye.
With the game in the balance, Love engineered the touchdown drive, hitting Watson for the big play and then using his legs to do the rest.
The interception was a poor play. Love had Tucker Kraft open on 3rd-and-11, and a good throw might have allowed the tackle-breaking tight end to get to the sticks and extend the drive. Instead, the throw sailed, the Bears picked it off and the game quickly swung Chicago’s way. The interception extended Love’s streak to eight games with an interception to start the 2024 season.
But the pick was an aberration when evaluating Love’s overall performance at Soldier Field on Sunday.
Love missed on four passes against the Bears. One was a deflection from Jaylon Johnson on an underneath pass. One was a throwaway. One was a drop from Doubs on third down. One was the pick.
Against a strong passing defense, Love consistently led the Packers down the field. The red-zone performance might get better, of course. The interception and a turnover on downs — when Love had to scramble on back-to-back plays — resulted in zero points on two of the five trips inside the 20. But in a low-possession game, the Packers moved the ball consistently.
For a second, forget the results. To get hot, the Packers needed Love to be more accurate and more mobile, and coach Matt LaFleur was confident that Love getting healthy during the bye would likely solve some of the lingering issues in the passing game. Sunday was just one game, but Love looked healthy, more accurate and more mobile, and the Packers turned only 17 passing attempts into 261 yards. More progression is required, especially in the red zone, but an encouraging overall performance in Chicago from a finally healthy quarterback could lay the groundwork for Love and the Packers taking off in a big way over the final seven games.
