Handing out Green Bay Packers 2023 regular season awards

MVP: Jordan Love

In one of the most anxious "wait and see" seasons for a Packers quarterback since Aaron Rodgers took the reins from Brett Favre, there were a lot of opinions early on about how Jordan Love would fair in his first year starting.

However, look wide and far; you won't find any predictions about Jordan Love playing at an NFL MVP level, especially not with the youngest offense in the league. He was missing his blindside All-Pro blocker in Bakhtiari all season and had to overcome difficult injuries to stars like Aaron Jones and Christian Watson.

Rightfully, expectations were low to start the season, and after a 2-5 start, many were predicting which quarterback the Packers would draft early in 2024. Love was often missing on deep balls and open targets in the early going, but what he accomplished the remainder of the season was nothing short of miraculous and reminiscent of the elite quarterbacking that came before him.

Love finished fourth in the NFL in total touchdowns (36), and his 32 passing touchdowns were more than either Rodgers or Favre amassed in their first year starting.

He's only the third quarterback all time to finish with 32 passing touchdowns and over 4,100 passing yards in their first year starting, joining Patrick Mahomes and Kurt Warner. He's also only the 10th quarterback in NFL history to achieve 30 or more passing touchdowns and eclipse 4,000 passing yards in their inaugural year starting.

Many worried about his accuracy issues coming out of Utah State, but he put those concerns to bed. Love produced nine games with two or more touchdown passes and zero interceptions, the most in the NFL, and over the last eight games, he recorded 18 touchdowns with only one interception.

There was no rattling Love in the pocket, as he always looked calm, poised, and on time with his passes. Without a single wide receiver eclipsing 1,000 receiving yards and only two instances of a receiver eclipsing 100 yards in a game this year, Love successfully got 7-8 pass catchers involved every week.

With the season on the line over the final four weeks, Love was dominant despite not having some weapons available. He would not finish with a passer rating below 109 in any of the games, and since Week 8, he's had a passer rating below 108 only two times.

Love's ability to navigate the pocket and be strategic about when to take off was something of an elegant dance that only the best in the game are able to execute. Like Rodgers has done so many times over the years, Love picked up where he left off by making effortless deep passes with the flick of the wrist, having both feet off the ground when throwing a missile, or hitting his target with precision on the run.

The future is undoubtedly now for the Packers with Jordan Love, and the team has already loaded him with weapons that look like they will be great for Green Bay for years to come.

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