I'm feeling pretty good about Jordan Love and hope he's here for a good long time. I laugh at the team to the south that cannot ever seem to get a good quarterback no matter what. Love should go for over 4,000 this year while I hear that the Bears have never had even one qb throw for that many yards EVER.

I'm feeling pretty glib until I read, "Bad defense just seems to be part of the DNA of this franchise." It occurs to me that possibly our incompetent D could be analogous to the hapless QBs of the Midway? Naw...

The season as a whole matters now. We are beyond the point where an individual game is critical.

I’d say he’s passed the first test—he’s almost exactly where Rodgers was after 15 games. Now we need to see how much more he can grow over the next couple of years.

He will be back next year and probably already be extended by the first snap of the 2024 season.

..."as Packers *ponder* extension"... Nice, Ken.

Let's all take a moment to celebrate another great moment in Vikings history. "With the 12th pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, the Minnesota Vikings select Christian Ponder, Quarterback, Florida State."

Hell get his extension. Like what are the pack gonna do go out ans spend money on a QB. Hey this is murphys cheap ball. Buyer beware this guy is an 8-8 QB at his best.

One game is not going to make-or-break the contact extension for Jordan Love. He looks so so much better than so many starting QBs in the league; they are not going to draft a replacement for him. He's their guy. He's got the arm, the attitude, the posture, the maturity and the calmness under pressure. He will only get better with time, as he has shown this season.

Love can only put the team on his back and win if his teammates play better and the coaches coach better than they did the last time against the Vikings. This isn't the NBA where one player can will a team to victory with minimal help from his friends. The last Vikings contest was pretty brutal with a ton of penalties, four sacks allowed, meager contributions from the running game, and as usual, sieve-like pass defense.

So far Love has had a reasonably good season for a first-year starter despite being challenged by far less than ideal circumstances on the field; everybody "growing together" isn't easy on the quarterback.

I get the point of the article, though. You want to see your star quarterback play well on the road in the most meaningful game of the season. But whether or not we actually come away with the win is dependent on a lot of other factors, so maybe guarded optimism is the best approach here. Besides, I'm thinking that quarterback is the least of our concerns right now.

Jordan Love is having a nice first full season as the Starter. He has been getting better as he seemingly gains a comfort and understanding of the offense. I think his future looks bright.

Now for the REAL problem aka the Defense…

This game is the most important game of the season. Is he going to give us one of his best games, or one of his worst? Obviously, it depends on getting guys blocked and having receivers get open and catch the ball.

If we get one of his best games, we'll have a great chance to win. If we get one of his worst, probably not. But the Packers usually protect him pretty well (6th in sacked percentage), and when he's protected, I've seen him make some really nice throws. IMO, we'll have to score 21 or more to have a legitimate shot.

Ever since the day Love was drafted, it has come down to this: Rodgers is gone and the Packers need him to play well and win a big game. Three and a half years of work has come down to this game, and he'll deliver or he won't, and the players around him will deliver or they won't. I think we'll get the good Love and have a great chance to win this game in the 4th quarter.

This is totally a bunch of bunk. Just look at what is happening both around the league - from Pittsburgh to even now Denver. Love is here next year. I have been posting that bringing back Lafleur is important both for the development of Love ( for at least one more year for the HC) and for the offensive consistency with all the new toys. Barry of course needs to go along with maybe his whole staff. Teams that change staff as fast as they change their minds are always at the bottom of their division. Revamp the defense and get some passion into playing the game. I am a little concerned about the whole team mentality with respect to recovery time and the willingness to play hurt. I am almost hoping that we dont make the playoffs as we will get better draft positioning - but would also like to make it as it would kind of rub it in AR's nose as he didnt.

It's a lot to ask of Love. Minnesota is a tough place to win. The Metrodome was a house of horrors for Brett Favre. He went 6-10 at Minnesota and Aaron Rodgers went 7-8.

I like what I see with Love this year. He's looking like a keeper but remember, it's still hard to win in Minnesota! Go Pack!

I sure hope Love eats his wheaties on Sunday. He's gonna need them. If Carolina put 30 points up against "The Joe Barry Experience", Minnesota can probably hang 45 even if they pulled Fran Tarkenton out of the retirement village and put him under center. So, we need Love to throw for 5 TDs and someone to run for 2 more to have any chance in this game.

Mr Love has the tools to be a good one!! The arm, the mobility, he's ascending. The problem the Packers have Is a Head Coach with
a lack of common sense! MLF hiring an incompetent Defensive Coordinator and keeping him after the end last season makes no sense!
The offensive play calling against the Giants was mind boggling too! How many Jet Sweeps can you run In one game?
And after the win against the Panthers MLF tries to help Joe Barry's case by blaming the Packers offense for the defense's woes?
I say take a shot and go get a new HC with a strong defensive background and bring an offensive coordinator who can work with Jordan Love.
My gut feeling Is Packers QB Coach Tom Clements Is the reason Jordan Love is developing rather nicely not MLF!

Love to me has surpassed my expectation for this first year as a starter. The record I don't worry about because this is a team game. The defense has blown 5 4th quarter leads. So we can't place the wins/losses squarely on the QB.

What has impressed me with Love is how he has put the offense on his back several occasions already and has done well. While he hasn't been perfect, you really have to factor in who he has around him. He has guys around him that are very inexperienced, and he has had to go into the majority of these games without his best LT, without his number 1 WR, without his number 1 RB, and without his number 1 TE. This past game for example on of his top targets was a PS guy and he was missing 3 of his top 4 WR's.

To me those are the impressive things. He is still a young guy who has some lapses with footwork and misses some throws because of it. Those things you learn as a player. Going into next offseason he will have a full season under his belt. He will know what he needs to work on to improve, and some things he may need to change.

But before the offseason we have 2 games left and depending on what happens maybe more. Regardless this first game against the Vikings will not be easy. Vikings defense is a good one. It will be loud there and will challenge Love and the offense. For Love to build more confidence he needs to be on the top of his game. He can't control who is playing with him. It looks like we maybe short at WR again. But he needs to be able to hit the guys that are on the field.

I'm looking forward to seeing what Love does Sunday night!

When it comes to getting a contract extension, Jordan Love is playing with house money at this point. The only question is how much money and how many years he will get with his contract extension in May. As others have noted, this one game is not going to make or break him. It is a good sign that he had the KC game circled on his calendar, and he played great. He should have this one circled too.

Until about the middle of this season, I didn't think Love had as much raw talent as Rodgers, but now I think that maybe he does--or at least he is in the same ballpark as Rodgers. Time will tell, but he's definitely earned an extension, and the money should be good too. You want to pay players who are young and ascending.

I despise the Vikings—second to the Broncos. My brother is a hardcore Vikings fan, so this game is much like SB for me.
I get nervous every time we play a rookie QB—we don’t have a very good track record with this circumstance.
Go Packers!!!

"When Jordan Love signed a one year contract extension last May he was essentially agreeing to a two year audition to become the long term quarterback of the Bay Packers."

Right from the get-go, you've got it wrong. When Jordan signed the one year contract extension last may, he essentially agreed to a *one* year audition to become the long term quarterback of the Green Bay Packers.

Had Love NOT renegotiated, the Packers would have been stuck in the position of either risking exposing Love to the free agent market after the 2023 season, or they would have had to pay for Love's 5th year option which would have cost $20.27 Million in 2024- fully guaranteed- without ever having seen him play any significant amount of time in live, regular season games.

Love's money is relatively unchanged- he's actually due to make a bit more than he would have if the Packers exercised the 5th year option- but had/if Love gets injured, or the Packers want to part ways, they could cut ties and Love could get nothing in 2024. Love basically 'took one for the team' and gambled on his talent (and health) to give the Packers an opportunity to evaluate his play before rewarding him with a long term contract. Voluntarily giving up guaranteed money in a violent contact sport is almost unheard of.

Make no mistake about it, Love may have signed a contract to make him a Packer through 2024, but the unwritten understanding is that the Packers were getting 2023 to evaluate Love before either deciding to pass on his services or draft a long term contract extension to make him the Packers starting QB for the foreseeable future. If the Packers don't have Love extended by start of 2024 season (or at least are in the process of doing so), it's as good as saying the Packers are moving on.

My hope for Love at the beginning of the season is that he would compare favorably with Jeff Garcia, the SFQB who followed Montana and Young. This was the track record (per wikipedia) for Garcia in his first full year as a starter, after CFL experience and a number of starts the season before:

(2000) The following season, with Young retired, and despite the 49ers drafting two quarterbacks (Giovanni Carmazzi in the third round and Tim Rattay in the seventh), Garcia kept the starting quarterback position and made his first Pro Bowl appearance. He set a new 49ers' team record with 4,278 passing yards in the 2000 season, although the team finished with a 6–10 record. Garcia finished the 2000 season, his first as a full-time starter with 31 TD passes to only 10 INTs. Garcia began the season on a tear, after 7 games, he had thrown for 19 TD passes, including 3 games of 4 TD passes.

Love has comparable stats to both Rodgers and Garcia in his firs year as a starter. Rodgers made a huge jump in his second starting season. Garcia go the 49ers to the playoffs. As I recall, Thompson extended Rodgers after his first year as a starter with a decent pay bump, but not one that would ruin the Packers if Rodgers flamed out in short order. Let's hope Gute follows that precedent.

I think those two questions are the most important to be answered.

Love has progressed for sure. He still have things to learn. And I think the ideas presented here are accurate. Love may be able to demonstrate what this writer is looking for in this game. But who knows if it will be a win. The defense is so unknown that even a great game from Love may not be able to overcome it. Rather, I am just looking for progress with Love.

BArry has demonstrated very well that his is not a capable DC. And it is too late in the season to do much of anything else. I don't believe he has the support of the players. And his system is dead for he has never been successful as a DC

I'm sitting here trying to evaluate Jordan Love and come up with the things about him that really concern me. However, as a first year starter and looking how this season has progressed, I am having a hard time developing a list of negative items and that is a good thing. This is what I think at this point in time. I think our young signal caller: has a very good NFL arm; seems to have a pocket presence and awareness which has helped him avoid a number of sacks; is quick enough on his feet to get outside and pick up yards when receivers are covered and smart enough to throw the ball away when the situation calls for it; he has improved his play as the season has moved along; and in my opinion, I do believe he is just a genuine likeable fellow who seems to have won over the confidence of his teammates and is coachable. I really like the guy also and hope like the devil that he turns out to be something very special.

People who say they want MLF fired are essentially saying that they want Jordan Love and this incredibly young offense to throw away most of what they have built so far this year and start over with a brand new offensive system next year. There is no way in hell the Packers are going to do that. And they SHOULDN’T do that.

MLF is fine, at least for the time being. Get rid of Barry.

"Bad defense just seems to be part of the DNA of this franchise."

I know the truth hurts record wise as it's been a long ,long time, but that should never be just accepted. yes we have always shined offensively on all our great teams, but to me Green Bay used to be all about Defense.
Have we ever won a championship without one?

I don’t think he has to prove anything. Just improve on his technique and consistency.
It’s hard to get in a grove when you’re sitting around watching your defense give up 14 play 8 minute drives.

He’s done very well. Remember he has the constant pressure of knowing his defense will leave him no margin for error, and his coach calls some really weird plays. I like the fact that he battles back from mistakes or slow starts. It would be great if he got a chance to gain playoff experience this year.
The packers have a decent roster and appear to have a good young quarterback. I would think there are some very good HCs out there that would love to lead this group.

It is very exciting to me how the offense has improved over the course of the year and especially JL! He has exceeded almost everyone's expectations and will now torment the Vikings, Lions and Bears for the next 10-15 years! He should get paid at a reasonable rate akin to Derek Carr and Daniel Jones- get as many years on it as you can. It's absurd what the QB pay has risen to and it will be organizational suicide to go that path. Start drafting QB's every year if need be (Ron Wolfe) and let's break the cycle. This whole year has been exciting so far and we are still in the hunt for the playoffs! The only negative is the howling, self righteous, mean crowd who have taken the Joe Barry hate to extremes that should embarrass themselves. As pointed out the defense has been an institutional problem to varying degrees for years. Firing JB in season won't change anything except satisfy the mob. GPG!

If JL10 can avoid injury and just be himself these last two games I think anything else that might happen doesn't affect his contract situation.

As for his throwing ability developing further, playing behind a leaky O line he's learned bad habits. If he can fix that in the off-season and have all his cleats on the ground when he throws his consistency will be fine. He's talented enough to make off-schedule throws with erratic mechanics and he could learn to rely on that, messing up his career. Having Tom Clements around is supposed to avoid pitfalls like that.

Playoffs? How about just playing well? Of course playoff experience of even just one game would help, but so would playing well. Returning to the form they had in KC should be possible ...

GPG!

Concerned about JL's ball placement. He hits WR's but not without them twisting, stretching overhead, behind them, at the ankles. Totally exposing them. Needs accuracy. Numbers & bread-basket.
Just hope the Organization stays out AR & Bach cap hell. Don't get painted in a long term cap hell.

I have an issue with the whole second paragraph. I hate to be so blunt but it is hyperbolic and stupid. How many times has Love and the offense come from behind in the 4th quarter this year? Love has already shown he is a good QB/above average QB, can perform in clutch situations, and that the packers can win a lot of games with him if they field competent defense.

The main question for Love, which cannot be answered till next year, can he improve or maintain his progress or was this year an anomaly.

Then at the end of the second paragraph, it's mentioned that Love needs to carry this team. I kind of bristle at the thought of a "QB carrying a team". Why? Because it's a team sport and effort. QB needs blockers at a minimum, then RBs to run or WRs to catch the ball. Only against JB defenses does a WR run to a spot with no one around for an easy pitch and catch. Even when a QB is throwing the ball into breadbox sized windows like AR did, it still requires a WR with the concentration to catch those types of balls. I just find the whole thing idiotic.

The converse is true. A QB can singlehandedly lose a game with poor decision and ball handling.

Another good read, Ken.

Since Fritz Schumer's D led the Packers to 2 SB appearances, "Green Bay has been through multiple coordinators including Dom Capers, Mike Pettine and the current Joe Barry."

And only one more SB in 2010.

31 years of HOF QBs and another budding star in Love with only 3 Super Bowl appearance and 2 Lombardi's is way below expectations.

Amazing, really! Why do the Packers invest so heavily in defensive talent only to passively tolerate DCs who lead their men into the basement? 3 DECADES of DC futility.