Jordan Love 2026

[Magooch]

In previous years it seems like we've always had a general thread to look at our QB's performance, but I haven't seen one really for this year, so figured it's about time to get it kicked off...

Hard to believe it, but we are already closing in on 1/3rd of the way through the season.

Heading into Week 6 against the Cowboys, Jordan Love is currently 3rd in the league in passing yards and tied for 5th in TDs.
There has been a lot of discussion about how godawful the Packers OL has been this year (particularly over the first three-ish weeks), but comparatively very little chatter about how Love has put up some pretty impressive numbers behind it.

For instance, in Week 1 against the Vikings, they blitzed at an insane rate (something like 80%) and were wildly successful in getting pressure on the QB. It was a historically bad performance from our OL, and I believe Love suffered more pressures than any other QB in any other game this season.

And while he finished with only 50% completion, he did still ultimately put up 387 yards, 2 TD, and one pick, with a passer rating of 88.1

Now to be fair, the Vikings have not exactly faced a murderer's row of QBs but otherwise, given the circumstances (Our OL and injury situations) and what we've seen from their defense, IMO those numbers are starting to look better and better. Here's what other QBs posted against the Minnesota defense:

Caleb Williams - 15/26, 138 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT. Passer rating 56.2
Tyson Bagent (subbed in for Williams after injury) - 5/9, 54 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, Passer rating 73.4
Baker Mayfield - 17/34, 217 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. Passer rating 67.9
Malik Willis - 9/17, 85 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT. Passer rating 67.0
Tyler Shough - 16/25, 96 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT. Passer rating 38.1

So yeah, that 50% completion is less than ideal, and some of those stats probably reflect the game-state but still, to throw for nearly 400 yards and 2TD against Flores' defense looks pretty good, not even considering the patchwork OL we had and the constant duress Love was under...

Here is Love's stats/progression from the past few years, along with this year thus far...and extrapolated out to whole-season numbers

Year	Completions	Attempts	Completion %	Yards	TD	INT
2023	372	579	64.2	4,159	32	11
2024	268	425	63.0	3,389	25	11
2025	291	439	66.3	3,381	23	6
2026	112	185	60.5	1,408	10	3
2026 (Extrapolated to full season)	381	629	60.5	4,787	34	10

There's certainly still some stuff that could stand to be cleaned up, but overall I've been pretty impressed with Love. Give him protection and time to work and he will get the job done more often than not. With all the uncertainty around Jacobs it seems like a prime opportunity to just let Jordan put the team on his back; I think he can handle it.

 

[Magooch]

Updating - Love is now on 135 completions, 226 attempts, 1,684 yards, 11 TD, 4 INT.

Pace would then be 383 completions, 640 attempts, 4,771 yards, 31 TD, 11 INT.

He is currently #3 in the league in pass yards and tied for #3 in pass TD.


Some qualifiers worth considering:

1. Love leads the league in WR drops at 19; next closest is 11. I haven't looked at the specific drops themselves individually, but Love averages 12.5 yards per completion this year. If he just had as many drops as the next-closest guys (11), he would be right around 1st in the league in pass yards and probably right there in TDs too. (Also FYI PFF says he has 19, Pro Football Reference counts 20)

2. We have BY FAR the worst running game in the league, so he's not really getting much of any help from that

3. Even with improvements in recent weeks, overall we still have the worst team in the league in pass blocking win rate

4. Love has been hit more than any QB in the league and is top-3 in the league for blitzes faced and pressures faced AND he is bottom-5 in pocket time

I'll say it again - he's playing at a MVP level IMO

 

[milani]

He is throwing like crazy. That is scary. A lot on his arm and it means he will get hit more.

 

[gopkrs]

He is very lucky he's not playing QB in the old days

 

[gopkrs]

He is throwing like crazy. That is scary. A lot on his arm and it means he will get hit more.

I am not in the least afraid of him using up his arm.

 

[El Guapo]

Love is playing extremely well. His yards and TDs are a reflection of the need to pass to win, due to a lack of a running game. That's not being dismissive of his accomplishments, because most QBs can't overcome a terrible OL and lack of ground game.

If I had to pick out one thing for him to take the next step, it's consistency. We have seen him be great at times and average at other times. If he wants to hit Rodger's/Brady/Manning status, he needs to be great every week. That's extremely hard to do but I think that we all see that he's got the tools. The brain needs to fire on all cylinders each week to be truly elite.

 

[rmontro]

Love kind of reminds me of Caitlin Clark. In that if you want him to be effective, you need to let him take his shots, you need to let him get into a rhythm. If MLF returns to emphasizing the run game so much, he won't be able to get in a groove. Plus if we don't run better than we are now, defenses are going to tee off on him on passing downs.

 

[milani]

Love kind of reminds me of Caitlin Clark. In that if you want him to be effective, you need to let him take his shots, you need to let him get into a rhythm. If MLF returns to emphasizing the run game so much, he won't be able to get in a groove. Plus if we don't run better than we are now, defenses are going to tee off on him on passing downs.

Exactly. If we do not start hitting some yards on the ground Jordan will become the Sonny Jurgensen of the 21st century. Throw. Throw. Throw.