Jordan Love was selected in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers. The front office made the bold choice with one clear objective in mind: ensuring that the former Utah State standout would serve as their heir apparent to Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers did not take kindly to the move. Although he made it clear that he had no issues with Love on a personal level, he was still deeply offended by the fact that the selection was even made.
The ill will from that series of events led to a long standoff between Rodgers and the Packers this offseason, culminating in what appears to be a mutual decision that this will likely be Rodgers’ last year in Green Bay.
With Rodgers on his way out, many have taken to wondering whether Love will truly be ready to take over when the time comes.
This week, Love attempted to answer that question on the field in a preseason showdown versus the Buffalo Bills. It didn’t go well. He ultimately failed to lead the Packers to any points in a shutout 19-0 defeat, finishing 12-of-18 for 149 yards and a bad pick in the end zone.
Following Saturday’s outing, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur got brutally honest about his youngster’s performance.
“I think for the most part he’s done a nice job,” LaFleur said. “Certainly these are teachable moments, and I think you have to experience those and go through those in a game setting to really learn from them, so I’m pretty certain that he will learn from those mistakes and hopefully he doesn’t repeat them.”
Yikes. https://t.co/AGjQrbeQlE
— Game 7 (@game7__) August 23, 2021
The end zone interception, in particular, was described as something that’ll go down as a ‘teachable moment.’
“I just told him that you can’t ever just risk it quite like that unless it’s fourth down and the game’s on the line, then certainly you can throw one up,” LaFleur continued. “But we never want to take points off the board and those, the interception and then the one at the end of the half, certainly could’ve taken points off the board.”
Love has made his feelings on Rodgers and his current situation as clear as possible. Now it’s time to deliver. Will he ultimately be able to get it together and prove himself a worthy successor to one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time? Time will tell.
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Jennifer Withers Hoey is a former Business Development Manager who transitioned to writing about sports. With valuable connections all over the West Coast, she has used those contacts to break some of the most interesting stories pertaining to the Portland Trail Blazers, Oregon Ducks, LA Lakers, LA Clippers, Seattle Supersonics (RIP), and more.
