The Jordan Love era officially began for the Green Bay Packers on Saturday afternoon. He was facing a stiff test heading on the road to play against an NFC North rival, the Chicago Bears. While there were some shaky moments during the game, Love passed with flying colors.
Not only did he play well, he led the Packers to a 38-20 victory, which is the most important thing. Green Bay had gotten off to terribly slow starts the last two seasons in Week 1 and wanted to flip the script this year. Love was a major part of accomplishing that.
The 2020 first-round pick completed 15-of-27 passes as his accuracy was a little off early in the game. But, he still managed to throw for 245 yards and three touchdowns without committing a turnover.
Most impressively, he stepped up when the Packers needed him the most. Pressure-packed third and fourth down plays are where Love shined. He completed 8-of-10 passes for 141 yards and two touchdowns in those situations.
That kind of clutch performance is what the Packers became accustomed to with Aaron Rodgers leading the way. Many people wrote Green Bay off once they traded to future Hall of Famer to the New York Jets, but if Love can perform to the level he did in Week 1, they are going to win a lot of football games.
The career path of Love has been eerily similar to Rodgers thus far. Both replaced a Hall of Fame quarterback who was traded to the New York Jets after being a late first-round pick and sitting for three seasons as the backup. Both also dismantled the Bears in their first career meetings, as a graphic FOX showed during the game yesterday was shared on Twitter.
The Packers won Rodgers’ debut against the Bears even more decisively than Love’s 38-20 victory. Green Bay wiped the floor with Chicago, winning 37-3. However, there was one major difference as that game came at Lambeau Field; Love accomplished his in enemy territory playing at Soldier Field.
Rodgers actually lost his first start at Soldier Field 20-17 in Week 16 of that season. He could bounce back fine, as his proclamation to Bears fans about owning them was hard to argue against. Green Bay certainly hopes that Love has a similar amount of success and that they are back atop the NFC North in no time.
