Comparing Jordan Love to Aaron Rodgers Through 25 Starts

Jordan Love has made 25 starts as the Green Bay Packers’ full-time starting quarterback. Here’s where he stands in comparison to Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love has helped the team to a 7-3 record entering Sunday's game vs. the 49ers. / Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – With a league-leading 11 interceptions, Jordan Love has not taken the expected jump after a successful debut season as the Green Bay Packers’ starting quarterback.

Love has started 25 games as the full-time replacement for Aaron Rodgers, the future Hall of Fame quarterback who won four NFL MVP awards and is No. 1 all-time in passer rating.

How do they compare entering the Packers’ game against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday?

Favorably.

Rodgers has a slight edge over Love in passer rating, 96.6 to 94.4.

They are almost equal in completion percentage – 63.7 percent for Rodgers and 63.6 percent for Love – with Love plus-3 in touchdown passes (good) and plus-4 in interceptions (bad).

What’s interesting is Rodgers in Year 2 as the starter threw 30 touchdowns vs. seven interceptions in 16 games. That’s plus-23. Entering his ninth start of this season, Love has 16 touchdowns vs. 11 interceptions, or only plus-5.

After a three-interception game at Tampa Bay in Week 9, Rodgers finished with 14 touchdowns vs. two interceptions down the stretch. Green Bay went 7-1 en route to an 11-5 record.

Can a healthy Love get on a second-half roll, like Rodgers did in 2009 and Love did in 2023? He was a sharp 13-of-17 against the Bears, with the lone interception being an overthrow rather than a bad read.

“Other than the interception, I think I made pretty good decisions, tried to play smart with the ball,” Love said this week. “Definitely was a focus going into that game to be deliberate in that and take care of the ball.”

The expectation is Love will continue to grow through experience.

“Jordan, he’s such a mature guy and he’s smart and just great work ethic and everything like that,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said, “but I think sometimes you can put a little bit too much on his plate just because you think he can handle it. So, you’ve got to as a coach understand this is his second year as a starter, so it’s not like he’s a polished pro or anything like that. Still got a long way to go.”

This will be Love’s second game against the 49ers as he continues to build a library of experience.

“Especially within our division, teams have played against him now, so they might have different ways of trying to defend him and us,” said Tom Clements, the Packers’ quarterbacks coach for Love and Rodgers.

“But he can make all the throws that you need to make. He’s still learning a little bit, but he’s getting better and better. He recognizes things quicker. He has a better understanding of our offense and defenses and, when that’s the case, when you have a good knowledge both of what we do and what the teams do and you have to make adjustments during the course of the game, you can make them a little easier because you can understand why those adjustments have to be made. So, he’s growing in that area, and I think he’s doing very well.”

San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan loves Love’s mentality.

“He's a thrower. There's not a throw he can't make. I love his mindset, how aggressive he is. He's always trying to end you,” Shanahan told reporters in Santa Clara on Friday..

“He's always going for the big plays, and he's got the skill-set with his feet, too, that, when things aren't there, he can make a lot of plays. Big, tall guy, very athletic, and we know how good he's been these two years, and he is going to be good for a long time.” 

49ers defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen agreed with his boss’ assessment.

“He's a guy that's always been able to move around enough to make plays, and he will,” he told reporters. “He's a competitive player. He'll duck his head and try and get a first down with his legs. But the way that he can move around and still chuck it down the field to receivers that can go get it, it's impressive.

“You are starting to see it. He's highly productive. It's a really good system and they've got all the pieces to fit starting with the running back and the run game that they have.”

Here is how Love, Rodgers and Brett Favre, for good measure, compare through their first 25 starts as the team’s QB1.

Completion Percentage

Love: 63.6 percent. Rodgers: 63.7 percent. Favre: 63.5 percent.

Passing Yards

Love: 6,240. Rodgers: 6,482. Favre: 5,386.

Passing Touchdowns

Love: 48. Rodgers: 45. Favre: 31.

Touchdown percentage

Love: 5.7 percent. Rodgers: 5.4 percent. Favre: 3.8 percent.

Interceptions

Love: 22. Rodgers: 18. Favre: 30.

Interception percentage

Love: 2.4 percent. Rodgers: 2.2 percent. Favre: 3.7 percent.

Yards Per Attempt

Love: 7.5. Rodgers: 7.8. Favre: 6.6.

Passer Rating

Love: 94.4. Rodgers: 96.6. Favre: 79.7.

Record

Love: 14-11. Rodgers: 11-14. Favre: 15-9.

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— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) November 24, 2024

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