With the 2026 season about to kick off, Jordan Love sits right where the Packers need him: near the center of everything. Green Bay opens Sunday, Sept. 13, against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the schedule only gets louder from there, with a Week 2 trip to MetLife Stadium against the New York Jets and a Week 3 home date with the Atlanta Falcons at Lambeau Field.
That’s the reality for a team that believes it is in a Super Bowl window. In a season like this, every snap gets magnified, and the quarterback gets the biggest spotlight of all. Love is the player most likely to define whether this thing stays on track.
The Packers took Love with the 26th pick in the 2020 NFL Draft out of Utah State and followed the same basic blueprint they once used with Aaron Rodgers, giving him a three-year apprenticeship behind one of the greatest quarterbacks ever. The payoff has been steady growth.
By the second half of his first year as the starter, it was obvious he had "it". Year two brought injuries and inconsistency, but last season he pushed into the MVP conversation and now has a real path to finishing 2026 as a Top 5 quarterback in the league.
In 48 career regular-season starts, Love is 27-20-1 with 11,119 passing yards, 81 touchdowns and 29 interceptions. He has the kind of arm that can reach every part of the field, the athleticism to move, and full command of Matt LaFleur’s offense. Love is the real deal.
His 2025 season backed that up. Over 15 regular-season starts, he completed 66.3% of his passes for 3,381 yards and 23 touchdowns against just six interceptions. He averaged 225.4 yards per game, posted a 101.2 passer rating and a 72.7 QBR.
The advanced numbers pointed the same way. According to PFF grades, Love jumped from a passing grade of 74.3 in 2024 to 88.7 in 2025, while his "big-time throw rate" rose from 3.4% to 5.9%.
Even in the playoff loss to the Chicago Bears, Love wasn’t the issue. He went 24-of-46 for 323 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions.
Matt LaFleur put it this way: "To watch where he came from to where he is now, I don't know if anybody would have guessed that he could come that far. That's a credit to him.
Certainly, I think it was a benefit not having to be rushed into it. You build up a bunch of scars.
And getting to sit back and learn from a guy like Aaron, I think, was extremely beneficial. I think that's a big reason as to why he's been able to do that at such a high level."
Love will be under center for every game, and he’s one of three players with a legitimate shot to win the NFL MVP award in 2026.
In Other News...
Aaron Rodgers Reopened A Packers Legacy Debate Fans Never Resolved
Aaron Rodgers has reopened one of the Packers more complicated modern questions just by talking through life after football. He expects to retire after the 2026 season, and in the meantime he has made clear that he looks back on his Green Bay years fondly, both for what he accomplished on the field and for the relationships he built along the way.
The lingering issue is what comes next, if anything, once his playing days are done. Rodgers said he would be open to coming back in a non-playing role if the team ever reached out, while also acknowledging that some of the bonds around the organization have been strained and that he does not want the end of his career to overshadow what he did in Green Bay. For a franchise that has spent years sorting through his legacy, even the possibility of a reunion leaves the conversation unfinished. [Read more 🡒]
Jordan Love Gives Packers An Edge They May Need Right Away
Jordan Love has given the Packers something every offense covets: a quarterback who tends to keep the negative plays off the board. Last season, he was sacked on just 4.57% of his dropbacks in 15 games, a mark that put him among the most efficient active quarterbacks in that area. Over his career, he has been even better, and that kind of steadiness matters for a Green Bay offense trying to stay on schedule and avoid the long-yardage traps that can change a drive in a hurry.
Loves bigger-picture profile is even more striking. Among active quarterbacks with at least 1,500 pass attempts, his career sack rate of 4.27% leads the group, and it sits seventh all-time, alongside names like Peyton Manning and Dan Marino. For the Packers, that is more than a tidy efficiency stat. It is the sort of edge that can quietly shape games, especially when pass protection is tested early and often. [Read more 🡒]
Jordan Love Faces A Week 1 Test Packers Fans Will Notice
Jordan Love enters Week 1 with a matchup that should feel familiar to anyone who watched the Packers last season: the ball has a chance to go downfield early and often. Green Bay was one of the leagues better teams at attacking deep, while Minnesota showed more vulnerability against those throws than it did against short and intermediate routes. That makes the opening test feel like a natural fit for Love, who has already shown he can punish pressure and push the offense vertically.
Christian Watson adds another layer to the conversation because his presence changes how defenses have to play Green Bay. Loves numbers looked different with Watson on the field, and the receivers speed gives the Packers a true deep threat that can stretch a game plan in a hurry. The question for Week 1 is not whether Love can hit those throws, but how much Minnesota can force Green Bay away from the part of the field where it has been most dangerous. [Read more 🡒]