Different Emotions as Jordan Love Returns to Chicago to Battle Bears

On Sunday, Jordan Love will return to where it all started.

While he started a game at Kansas City in 2021 and finished the game at Philadelphia in 2022, Love made his first start as the Green Bay Packers’ full-time starting quarterback at the Chicago Bears on Sept. 10, 2023. Exactly 434 days later, Love will face the Bears again on Sunday in Chicago.

“Obviously, there was a lot of emotions and thoughts last year just being my first season being the full-time starter going into that,” Love said on Wednesday. “Obviously, playing down there in Chicago is a tough place to play, but I was expected to go out there and get the season started off.

“A little different feel this year, but we’re excited to go down there and put our best foot forward for this game.”

Love did exactly what his predecessor, Aaron Rodgers, did practically every time he set foot onto Soldier Field.

He owned the Bears.

Love was 15-of-27 passing for 245 yards and three touchdowns, good for a 123.2 passer rating, as the Packers rolled over Chicago 38-20. It marked Green Bay’s 13th win in 14 treks to Chicago.

“Definitely remember that game last year just on the sideline during the national anthem,” Love said. “Took a moment just to kind of take it all in – take the crowd in and the atmosphere entering into my first as a starter.

“Just not trying to take anything for granted, just blessed to be there and take the opportunity and put my best foot forward and go out there and play and enjoy the opportunity that I’m blessed to be a part of.”

A lot has changed over these past 400-plus days.

After beating the Bears in Week 1, there were more downs than ups during the first half of last season. However, he was impeccable during the second half of the season. He led the Packers to the playoffs, won a playoff game and earned a massive contract extension to solidify his place as the team’s next franchise quarterback.

Now, Love returns to Chicago. After a mistake-filled and injury-plagued first half of this season, Love was full participation at Wednesday’s practice and eager to get on the type of second-half roll that propelled the team a year ago.

“Trying to get back to that level and take that bar even high and play even better,” Love said. “There’s things throughout the first half of the season that you want to focus on, clean up and get better at. I’m always trying to improve my game and definitely want to be better than I was the first half of the season going forward.”

Love’s debut season ended as it began, with Love going 27-of-32 for 316 yards and three touchdowns, good for a 128.6 rating, as the Packers beat the Bears at Lambeau Field in the regular-season finale. The Packers’ 10th consecutive win in the series sent the team to the playoffs.

“I think it’s tough when you don’t have that experience sometimes and been in that moment before,” Love said. “I was blessed to be there and didn’t want to take anything for granted and just wanted to go out there and have fun and play my best ball.”

Sunday’s game will mark the 209th game in the series – most for any rivalry in NFL history. Green Bay has won 10 in a row in the series. If the Packers win again, it would be the longest winning streak by either team in series history.

A new era is here, though. After Rodgers handed ownership of the Bears over to Love, Chicago drafted Caleb Williams with the No. 1 overall pick of this year’s draft.

Williams has struggled during the Bears’ three-game losing streak, but he is viewed as a generational talent, creating the possibility of Love and Williams squaring off for a decade of high-stakes matchups and renewing what had become a one-sided rivalry with Brett Favre and Rodgers.

“I think that’s something that would definitely be cool,” Love said, “but, at the end of the day, I think just the rivalry with Packers-Bears and the history of this rivalry is something that’s a little bit more special than that right there.”