Last season, Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers surprised everyone when they went 6-2 over the final eight regular-season games to finish 9-8 and make the playoffs.
Then, on top of that, the Packers routed the Dallas Cowboys in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs and came awfully close to upsetting the San Francisco 49ers in the Divisional Round.
As a result, Green Bay is a trendy pick to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl this year.
During a recent appearance on the Scoop City podcast, Love spoke about the difference in the Packers’ mindset between this year and last season.
“Last year there was a lot of question marks with everybody on our team,” Love said. “We had a lot of young players and guys trying to prove themselves. Now, guys kind of made names for themselves and teams know what we are about. Our mindset is definitely elevated as a team in the locker room.”
Essentially, Love is putting the NFL on notice.
“The goal is definitely an NFC North championship and a Super Bowl,” Love said. “We set the goals high and we are trying to show up every day and be able to go out there and compete to that standard.”
Love was selected by the Packers with the 26th overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft, but spent his first three seasons as Aaron Rodgers’ backup.
After Rodgers was traded to the New York Jets last year, the door was opened for Love to start, and he took full advantage. While he struggled early on, he ended up throwing for 4,159 yards, 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions while completing 64.2 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 96.1.
The 25-year-old was particularly brilliant over the latter half of the season, totaling 18 passing touchdowns and just one pick over his last eight regular-season contests. He then threw three more touchdowns without an interception in Green Bay’s Wild Card Round victory over the Cowboys.
Love parlayed his impressive 2023 campaign into a four-year, $220 million contract extension he signed with the Packers late last month.
We’ll see if Jordan Love can lead the Green Bay Packers back to prominence in 2024.
