‘Franchise Quarterback’ Jordan Love Makes Rare Mistakes in Loss to 49ers

Jordan Love’s magical second half of the season ended in bitter disappointment, with his two interceptions playing a big role in the Packers’ 24-21 loss at the 49ers.

In 2009, Aaron Rodgers lost his playoff debut with a first-pass interception and final-play fumble.

In 2023, Jordan Love won his playoff debut but threw an interception in the final moments as the San Francisco 49ers withstood a profound challenge by the Green Bay Packers, 24-21, in an NFC Divisional playoff game on Saturday night at Levi’s Stadium.

It will be of no consolation for Love and the rest of the Packers but, one year after the 2009 team’s bitter loss to the Arizona Cardinals, Rodgers led the Packers to triumph in Super Bowl XLV.

“It’s tough. Very tough,” Love said. “We had an opportunity to win that game and didn’t capitalize on it. It’s a tough way to end the season.”

Love was sensational down the stretch. The Packers were 3-6 when Love morphed from young, struggling starter to perhaps the next great quarterback.

Starting with the Week 11 victory over the Chargers through last week’s blowout playoff win over the Cowboys, Love was second with 21 touchdown passes and first with one interception. For context, of the 12 quarterbacks with at least 12 touchdown passes during that span, none had fewer than four interceptions. It was one of those rolls that made Rodgers such a legend.

But with the season on the line, with a chance to lead the Packers to an improbable NFC Championship Game appearance, Love had three enormous misses.

On third-and-11 late in the third quarter, Love threw high and behind tight end Tucker Kraft. Kraft deflected the ball into the air for an interceptions by Dre Greenlaw. The 49ers turned that into a field goal to pull within 21-17.

On third-and-2 on the ensuing drive, Love passed up a chance to scramble for a first down and flipped a pass to Aaron Jones. The ball was behind Jones and almost intercepted.

Packers Lay Foundation for Next Run of Greatness

On the next drive, Jones’ 53-yard run got the Packers into scoring position. However, on third-and-9, the 49ers’ blitz forced an incompletion. Still, Love had done enough to make it a seven-point game. However, Anders Carlson missed from 41 yards.

The 49ers capitalized with the go-ahead touchdown, but Love had 1:07 on the clock and all three timeouts. In the NFL, that’s an eternity. Love had three game-winning drives this year, including against the Chargers and Panthers after failing to deliver in losses to Atlanta, Las Vegas and Denver.

However, Love made the type of horrendous decision that he had avoided during his hot streak. After picking up one first down, Love extended the play to the right. Throwing late over the middle is one of quarterbacks coach Tom Clements’ “mortal sins” of quarterback play. That’s exactly what Love did. Christian Watson wasn’t open. Love threw it, anyway; the pass was underthrown and intercepted by Greenlaw.

During his final four possessions, Love was 6-of-12 passing for 30 yards and two interceptions.

“I haven’t looked at it yet, haven’t looked at any pictures,” Love said. “Looking back on it, yeah, throw it away. I don’t know if I had an opportunity to be able to run, maybe get out of bounds. But force it across the middle late, which is a mortal sin, and it cost us. So, it’s something I’ll look at, but that’s an area right there where I’ll be able to look at, grow from and get better in the future.”

The dismal ending to the season doesn’t dampen the enthusiasm the Packers will take into an offseason that’s starting later than expected but earlier than desired.

“I think he’s had an outstanding season,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “I know it didn’t end the way we wanted it to. I couldn’t be more proud of just who he is as a man, first and foremost, as a leader of this team. I know this one’s going to hurt him. I’m sure he’ll be really hard on himself.

“He’s just got to use it as fuel to continue to get better, but I think you saw so much growth throughout the course of the season, not only from his ability to going out there and playing consistent winning football, but also I think he grew as a leader, and I think that’s very important to be the franchise quarterback that I expect him to be for a long time around here.”

After throwing 10 interceptions during a seven-game stretch, the Packers dropped to 3-6 with a loss at Pittsburgh. At that point, it was fair to wonder if Love would be one-and-done as Rodgers’ successor and general manager Brian Gutekunst would be diving into a quality draft class with a top-five or top-10 pick.

Not anymore, not after LaFleur called Love a “franchise quarterback.” Love is poised to be the team’s next longtime starting quarterback.

“There’s so many things,” Love said of his Year 1 takeaways. “I think just understanding how small the margin for error is in this league, especially in critical games like this when you win and advance, you lose and you go home, just how important every play is and just how locked in you’ve got to be.

“And how critical situations are at the end of the game to go win it, just how dialed in you’ve got to be to take advantage of those games and win. But there’s so many areas and so many lessons I’ve learned throughout this season and teams learn throughout the season that I think is going to make us better in the future.”

Report Card: Report Card: Grades for Packers’ Season-Ending Loss to 49ers