Packer Central

Extend Toyotathon?: Toyota ‘Aware’ of Jordan Love’s Bizarre Success

There are good reasons to explain why Jordan Love has put together a hot streak for a second consecutive season. The most compelling is Toyotathon.

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) celebrates after defeating the New Orleans Saints last year.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) celebrates after defeating the New Orleans Saints last year. / Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Jordan Love has never owned a Toyota, but he has heard about the connection between his hot play and the Toyotathon sales event.

“All the time,” he said this week.

On Monday morning, with the Green Bay Packers set to host the New Orleans Saints, Love embraced the bizarre link between elite play and an automotive sale.

Love in 2023 went from a struggling first-year starter to one of the hottest quarterbacks in the NFL.

Love in 2024 went from mistake-prone to, once again, one of the hottest quarterbacks in the NFL.

There are logical reasons for Love’s improved play – experience in 2023 and health in 2024 the obvious explanations.

Or, maybe it’s Toyotathon.

“Normally, you would think, ‘Oh, he’s gotten hot in December.’ It’s funny that it’s caught on with Toyotathon,” said Pete Ingold, the sales manager of Lemieux Toyota in Green Bay.

Toyotathon is Toyota’s year-ending sales event. In 2023, it ran from Nov. 15 through Jan. 3. In 2024, it started on Nov. 15 and will run through Jan. 6.

In 2023, Love had 14 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions in the first nine games. Of 32 qualifying passers, he was 26th in passer rating, last in completion percentage and last in interceptions.

In 2024, Love had 16 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions in the first nine games. Of 35 qualifying passers, Love was 19th in passer rating, 30th in completion percentage and last in interceptions

Then came Toyotathon.

After the start of Toyotathon, Love over the final eight games of last season ranked second in passer rating, third in completion percentage and first in touchdown-to-interception ratio (18 to 1).

(Toyotathon ended before Love threw for 316 yards with two touchdowns in Week 18 against Chicago and 272 yards and three touchdowns in a playoff blowout at Dallas, but there’s no reason to let facts get in the way of a good story.)

With the start of this year’s Toyotathon – also corresponding with the bye – Love is third in passer rating, seventh in completion percentage, first in yards per attempt and has seven touchdowns and one interception

“This is the best ball he’s played,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said this week. “Just when I look at all the little things in terms of his ability to manipulate the pocket when he’s under duress, getting the ball to his checkdowns or whatever it may be, I think he’s playing at a really high level.”

Love took a more modest view of his play.

“I feel like I’m playing at a decent level,” he said. “I think there’s definitely some stuff I can clean up and play even better, so I think there’s still a lot more out there, but it’s not bad right now.”

Critically, Love has practically eliminated the game-changing blunders. In the five games since the bye, he’s thrown only one interception. That was at Chicago, when receiver Bo Melton slipped. Love has thrown seven touchdowns and zero interceptions the last four games.

The Packers have scored 30-plus points in each of the last four games, tied for the longest streak under LaFleur.

“He’s protecting the ball, making good decisions and making good throws,” quarterbacks coach Tom Clements said. “We had talked about it, I guess it's like four or five, six weeks ago, that we needed to get on a run of our offense playing well, Jordan doing well and protecting the ball, and he's bought into that.

“There were some things we talked about and we've worked on him in practice, and he's been diligent about working on those things, even in our walk-throughs. So, he's really focused. He's playing well. And then the rest of the team offensively is playing well, not making big mistakes, and winning some games.”

Even without the abundance of touchdown passes – those have gone to running back Josh Jacobs – Love’s passer rating the past five games is higher than it was during the stretch run to last season. His yards per attempt is 1.2 yards better than any other quarterback during that span.

“I think as an offense, as a skill group, we have confidence whoever we go against,” Love said. “Then it just comes down to control what we can control and making those plays, but we’re confident that whoever we’re going to go against that we’re going to make plays out there.

“I don’t think a lot of teams have been able to stop us; I feel like we stop ourselves. But, like I said, there’s still so much out there for us that I feel like we can be even better and take this offense to another level with just hitting on so many more plays. I think there’s a lot more out there for us.”

Love started the 30th regular-season game of his career last week, so he’s still young and learning. And, of course, the knee and groin injuries from early in the season are but a distant memory.

That’s allowed Love to practice every day and play how he wants to play.

Those are all good reasons why Love is trending back toward elite status.

Or, it’s Toyotathon.

This year’s Toyotathon ends on Jan. 6. That’s one day after the Packers are scheduled to end the regular season against the Chicago Bears but about a month before the Feb. 9 Super Bowl.

Ingold, who is the uncle of Miami Dolphins fullback Alec Ingold, said there’s been a push to extend Toyotathon through the Super Bowl.

“We’ve heard about it,” Ingold said. “I don’t know if Toyota will jump on board but I have heard that it’s gotten into the regional offices, so they’re aware of it. I don’t know if they’re going to do anything with it or not.”

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.