Jordan Love puts the league on notice in Packers' big win over Dolphins

It was on Thanksgiving Day last season when Jordan Love turned a run of good performances into a great one. Love never got his turkey leg after last year's win, but we won't even get started on that.

Twelve months later, Love has done it again. He put in arguably his best performance of the season as the Green Bay Packers destroyed the Miami Dolphins at Lambeau Field, completing 21 of 28 passes for 274 yards and two touchdowns with a 129.2 rating.

He easily could've had more touchdowns. Dontayvion Wicks came within a yard of reaching the end zone on one catch, while a missed pass-interference call cost him a touchdown to Christian Watson late in the game.

But beyond the box score, Love looked back to his best. He made smart decisions—if the deep shot wasn't there, he took the checkdown—and hit on several big-time plays.

Packers take a significant step toward the postseason after Jordan Love's big game

Love connected with Jayden Reed on two touchdowns, and his star receiver then made an incredible one-handed catch. Josh Jacobs ran in the Packers' other touchdown, while Brandon McManus made all six kicks.

The Packers have now won nine games, the same total they reached the postseason with last season. At 9-3 with five to play, it would take an end-of-season disaster for this team not to make the playoffs.

Winning the NFC North? That's another question. The Chicago Bears suffered an embarrassing loss to the Detroit Lions earlier in the day, allowing Detroit to improve to 11-1, two games ahead of Green Bay. The Packers can halve the gap with a win over the Lions on Thursday Night Football next week.

Win the division or not, the Packers are closing in on a playoff berth, and they are ascending at the right time.

Love has now completed back-to-back turnover-free games, the offense has scored 30 both times, and the pass rush is heating up. They may get the Lions at the right time, who came close to throwing away the game against the Bears late in the fourth quarter.

There are still areas to improve. The Packers had too many pre-snap penalties (yes, again) for a total of seven flags in the game, but overall, it's hard not to be encouraged by this performance. They outperformed the Dolphins in all three phases.

More importantly, Love is looking like the player who led the Packers on a deep playoff run last season.

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