Being a starting quarterback in the NFL obviously comes with loads upon loads of pressure, as there are only 32 such jobs on the planet. It also happens to be the most important position in all of sports, so there's that to worry about as well.
The pressure is naturally even more intensified for those signal-callers taken in the first round of the NFL draft. And when you're the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, expectations are off the charts, given the franchise's storied history at the position.
That lineage, of course, features three of the greatest QBs in league history in Bart Starr, Brett Favre, and Aaron Rodgers, who combined to win four Super Bowls and eight regular-season NFL MVPs, the latter representing the most by any team at the position.
This is the pressure Jordan Love faces each and every day as he prepares for his third season as the starting quarterback in Green Bay. His first three seasons, of course, were spent sitting behind Rodgers after the Packers took him in the first round of the 2020 draft with the 26th overall pick.
Just as Rodgers was always going to be compared more to Favre than to Starr, Love is always going to be compared more to Rodgers than to Favre. And the Utah State alum is well aware of that fact. In a highly emotional piece for The Players' Tribune in which he discusses pretty much every aspect of his life, Love sent a clear message on how he approaches his job as QB1 of one of the most iconic franchises in the world.
"I'm not Aaron Rodgers," Love wrote. "I'm not a guy with a five-star pedigree. I'm my own man with my own story, and I want to make my own mark on this franchise. I want to write my own chapter here, following in the footsteps of the legends who wore this G before me."
Jordan Love wants to write his own chapter in emotional message to Packers fans
Thus far, the 26-year-old is off to a solid start, as he's led the Packers to the playoffs in each of his two seasons as a starter, which neither Favre nor Rodgers accomplished.
The same can't be said for Starr, however, although his story is a bit different, as he really didn't take over full-time QB1 duties until 1960, his fifth season in the league, a year in which Green Bay advanced to the NFL Championship Game, ultimately losing to the Philadelphia Eagles.
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Starr finally started every game in 1961 and promptly led the franchise to its first of five NFL titles in the decade, the last two of which put the Packers in position to win the first two Super Bowls, where he took Most Valuable Player honors in both victories.
Championships are ultimately what will define Love's tenure with the Packers, which is just what happens when you put on a helmet in a place called Titletown. And Cheeseheads will undoubtedly get a little antsy if a fifth Lombardi Trophy doesn't find its way to Lambeau Field soon.
Favre led the Packers to a Super Bowl victory in his fifth year as QB1 in Green Bay. Rodgers did so in only his third. So, this is the pressure Love is up against if he genuinely hopes to follow in the footsteps of the legends who came before him. And he seems more than ready for the challenge.