Mistakes that turned into big plays fuelled Jordan Love and the Packers’ second-half comeback.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love recognized one hopeful pattern that has brought the 7-8 Packers back into contention during a last-season effort to crash the NFC playoff picture.
“I think the exciting part about it is that some of the mistakes we were making early in the season, now we’ve corrected those things and we’re turning them into big-time plays,” Love said on Wednesday, via The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman.
The Packers fell to 3-6 after a Week 10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the season appeared to be over as Love and the offense faltered.
However, a Week 11 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers started a three-game winning streak. The club of Matt LaFleur has now won four of its past six games. It has a 26% probability of making the playoffs as of Week 17.
If the Packers defeat their NFC North foe Minnesota Vikings in Week 17, they will have a better than 50-50 chance of making the playoffs, with 55 percent odds.
Love finds his groove in the second half of the season.
Green Bay’s success has coincided with Love’s best stretch of the season, his first as the Packers’ starting quarterback after the franchise moved on from long-time starter Aaron Rodgers.
Love has a passer rating of 100.0 or higher in five of the last six games. He’s scored a QBR of 90.0 or greater three times. Love had three games with a passer rating of 100 or above before to this span. He hadn’t scored a 90.0 QBR in any of his previous games.
One aspect of making more huge plays has been avoiding surrendering the ball to the opposing team. Since Week 10, Love has only had one interception. A healthier receiving corps has also aided in unlocking some of Love’s potential, which the Packers recognized.
One thing is to see if they can sneak into the playoffs this season. But the Packers must believe that their patience and faith in Love have been rewarded.
