Monday Musings: 10 Is Him

"He's him. He's him. Everybody in the league, if y'all not woke, please wake up. Get the crust out of your eyes because he is him and 10 is coming. Period."

Rashan Gary didn’t hold back words when talking about his quarterback after Sunday night’s matchup with the Steelers, and he wasn't wrong either. Jordan's Love's performance on Sunday Night Football against the Pittsburgh Steelers was one for the history books. It was primetime. The Steelers were coming in with a record of 4-2; the Packers at 4-1-1. It was the first (and maybe only) time Aaron Rodgers would be facing off against the Green Bay Packers. Rodgers was also getting a chance to go head-to-head with the guy who took over for him. As a team, the Packers hadn’t won in Pittsburgh since 1970. The story lines were plentiful. But as the night went on, it was clear what the night was all about: Jordan Love.

Gary wasn't the only person lauding Love's performance. Everyone who watched seemed to be in awe. Micah Parsons was also asked about Love after the game, and Parsons replied, "He showed he's the successor. He's the up-and-coming. Like J-Love, talking about when I was coming here, I was like, 'I know they've got a quarterback, I know I've got a quarterback.' I'm just so proud of him, everything he's been through, how he's developed as a player, how he's developed as a person, and he's just playing some really good football right now."

Sunday night's showdown was not an easy environment for anyone to walk into, and Love acknowledged that. "There's that added level of pressure," Love said. "You know, obviously, us going up against each other. I knew coming into the week what was entailed in this week." Despite the added pressure, Love remained himself through it all. He didn't try and emulate anything Rodgers had done (although there are some uncanny resemblances). Love wanted to beat his old mentor and teammate. The Packers are the one team that Rodgers has never beaten in his 21-year NFL career, and Love kept it that way. With the lights at their brightest, Jordan Love showed everyone on Sunday night that he is him. His coaches knew it, his teammates knew it, and now everyone else knows it, too.

Love Caught Fire

Jordan Love was absolutely brilliant against the Steelers. Love was in complete control, even through the moments of clunkiness. "He took control of the huddle in between the whistles; he kept us on the same page,” Tucker Kraft described. In fact, the Packers’ offense wasn’t called for any pre-snap penalties. Love kept the Packers out of disadvantageous situations all night. “He was locked in on his protections with the o-line and the running back. He put the ball where he wanted to all night."

Green Bay’s offense wasn't great in the first half, but the miscues weren’t on Jordan Love. The Packers had six offensive possessions. One of them ended with a touchdown pass to Tucker Kraft, but only one of the other five drives ended with points. Two ended with missed field goals and two ended with drops on third down."We just weren't finishing. We weren't executing our plays,” Love said after the game. “The first half went by really fast for our offense…the message was just do your job and lock in."

It’s safe to say that after halftime, Jordan Love and the offense are locked in. In fact, Love was damn near perfect. The Packers’ next three drives all ended with touchdowns. It started with a nine-play, 90-yard touchdown drive that was capped off by an eight-yard touchdown pass from Love to Savion Williams. The next drive was a ten-play, 78-yard touchdown drive that ended with a Josh Jacobs touchdown run and a successful two-point conversion. The third consecutive touchdown drive ended with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Kraft. Jordan Love was on fire. The Packers trailed by nine at halftime, but ended up winning the game by ten thanks to 28 second-half points.

In the first half, the Packers went 0-for-4 on third down. They went 5-for-8 in the second half, including a 59-yard completion to Tucker Kraft and a 33-yard completion to Christian Watson. Love took complete control of the game. He was almost in a flow state. "Man, I was just playing. I think you get in that as a player, where you just start flowing and playing well, and everybody around me just was making plays as well and executing at a high level," Love said afterwards. "Obviously, we knew what we needed to change at halftime, and I'm just glad we were able to go out there and do that and start making some big-time plays."

A Night For the History Books

It’s hard to describe how great Jordan Love truly was, but it’s worth a try. Love finished the night completing 29 of his 37 passes for 360 yards and three touchdowns. He finished with a passer rating of 134.2. And most importantly, he didn’t take any sacks. He even completed 20 straight passes at one point, which is the most by a Green Bay quarterback in a single game since Brett Favre did it back in 2007. His first incompletion of the half came with 5:36 seconds left in the fourth quarter. He went from the 4:17 mark in the second quarter all the way until that point without throwing an incomplete pass. There was a 0.1% chance of completing all 20 passes based on the difficulty of each pass.

Love’s night was pretty remarkable. Love tore apart Pittsburgh’s man-to-man coverage. According to Next Gen Stats, Love was 13 of 17 for 232 yards and three touchdowns against man coverage. He generated +16.3 EPA across his drop-backs (the third most of his career). “He’s had a really nice season. He’s been really efficient with the football. He’s opportunistic, though,” Aaron Rodgers shared after the game. “I felt like he was very patient tonight. They took the run solutions. He took the check-downs, moved in the pocket well. He played fantastic. I thought he played really well.”

In the second half, Love had a 100% adjusted completion rate, 214 passing yards, two touchdowns, and a 148.7 passer rating in the second half, according to PFF. When targeting Tucker Kraft and Christian Watson, Love was 11 of 13 for 228 yards, two touchdowns, and had a perfect 158.3 passer rating. "He really took command," Christian Watson said after the game. "That’s monster stuff. We knew that in the second half, we had to go out there and execute a lot better. I think he took the helm and just led us and put us in position to make plays, and that's exactly what we needed from him. He was definitely huge."

A Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Love took his play to a new level last night. He showed up when the lights were at their brightest against his mentor and predecessor. He didn’t flinch. "He was patient throughout the process, throughout the journey, and he just took advantage of the opportunity," Matt LaFleur shared. "He really did. It's been cool—and I've said this many times—just to watch how he's matured as a young guy coming in here at 21 years old, and he's a grown ass man now, and you see it. What he does, how he carries himself; he's so confident."

LaFleur continued, "He's a great teammate, he encourages the other guys, he's a hell of a leader, and he's really grown as a football player. Going into this game, he put a lot on himself, and I thought he went out there—he's just so consistent in who he is, through the good times and the bad times. There are moments where you can sense the frustration from him, but he keeps going.”

Love rarely shows emotions. He’s usually as cool as a cucumber. Regardless of the highs or the lows that happen each week, Love remains a steady presence. But Sunday felt a little different. He showed some fire and intensity, and it fueled him. "To be honest with you, I kind of like it when he gets a little pissed off because you don't see it too often,” head coach Matt LaFleur said after the game.

Packer fans will always have a lot of love and appreciation for Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers was a phenomenal Packer - arguably the greatest of all time. He won a Super Bowl, multiple MVP awards, and always had the Packers in contention. It’s still a bit strange watching Rodgers suit up in a different uniform that’s not green and gold. That said, Rodgers isn’t missed. Jordan Love showed everyone that he is him."The legacy he left, I would say Jordan is filling those shoes when you're talking about the Favre to Rodgers to Love,” Tucker Kraft said of his quarterback. “Jordan has stepped up and fulfilled his end of the bargain."

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Carter Semb is a lifelong Packer fan, shareholder, and season ticket holder. He is a contributor for Cheesehead TV and Packers Talk. For commentary surrounding Wisconsin sports, he can be found on X at @cmsemb.

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Comments (12)

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T7Steve's picture

October 27, 2025 at 02:50 pm

Just keep giving them more things to worry about.

This might finally get the running game opened up. Like Dobber said in an earlier post, this is a pass to run team now. I can't believe I said it either.

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stockholder's picture

October 27, 2025 at 03:47 pm

Kraft is wrong-
Favre to Rodgers to Love.
LOVE HAS NOT WON A SUPER-BOWL YET!
MVP?
Yet to be determined.

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Oppy's picture

October 28, 2025 at 12:59 am

Man, you really thought you were going to be strutting around here talking about how massive of a mistake moving on from Rodgers was, as proven by how completely Rodgers out-played Love.

It's killing you that Love showed out and overshadowed Rodgers on Sunday.

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stockholder's picture

October 28, 2025 at 06:06 am

No- I'm glad the packers won.
I'm a stockholder first.
I don't like the hate for Rodgers.
He's given us his very best.

Outplayed happens in the NFL.
Love's confidence was the difference.

I have been a packer fan all my life.
Even through the Lombardi years.
I see winning Super-Bowl QBs as heroes.
If they tell you their only a couple players
away.( from winning it all again. )
The Time between trophies, Shows
managements failures.
Farve and Rodgers still could play.
Trading them for waiting sucks.

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Leatherhead's picture

October 27, 2025 at 03:48 pm

In two weeks, he gets the Eagles. He got 10 points against them last time.....maybe he'll do better this time.

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Snap the ball's picture

October 27, 2025 at 05:07 pm

Depending on how many cheap shots and shoulders they try to take out like they did in Philadelphia

I wonder of Jalen Carter goes for Love knees how big the fight will be like last year in Brazil.

Or. Cheap shot on Jenkins and Reed.

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Snap the ball's picture

October 27, 2025 at 05:09 pm

Philly offense line holds more than a 10th grade boy going to the prom with a senior Girl

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Snap the ball's picture

October 27, 2025 at 05:09 pm

May biggest thing is need to win this next game first

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Snap the ball's picture

October 27, 2025 at 05:11 pm

I hope they play California Love in the NFC Championship game with 1 min left when we have the ball and Tampa is down 11 at that point .

Or maybe Burning Love by Elvis

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Leatherhead's picture

October 27, 2025 at 05:22 pm

Snap.....you predicted a 12 point win, and I thought that was unlikely, but you came really close to nailing it.

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Snap the ball's picture

October 27, 2025 at 05:28 pm

Yah McManus makes his kicks
Or Love throws to a wide open Golden in the 4th it’s 12 plus

Or the Defense gets a stop at the end of the game.
But I will take the 10 point win

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Snap the ball's picture

October 27, 2025 at 05:35 pm

Reminds me of the 2007 season not much of a running game and Brett throwing it all over the place

Passing game was the running game tell they got it going later in the year.

Also what got me was the quick throws and they all got back up fast and getting to the huddle.

One game sample but maybe time to take the training wheels off a bit.

This next game and Giants game are huge. No more pissing down the leg.

Still need Josh fresh for the final push.

Only week 8 so time to figure stuff out

Glad to see Rhyan play and overall both lines played well

Linebackers played well

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