No Flinch: Inside Jordan Love’s Game-Changing Pass That Beat Bears

On the game-winning touchdown drive by the Packers last week, Jordan Love was smoked by Bears defender Gervon Dexter but threw a strike to Christian Watson.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) hurries his team downfield after throwing a 60-yard pass to Christian Watson. / Mark Hoffman/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – A bit lost in the shuffle of Christian Watson’s remarkable catch on the game-changing 60-yard completion in the Green Bay Packers’ victory over the Bears was the remarkable throw by Jordan Love.

The protection held up until the last moment, when Gervon Dexter got past the injured left hand of center Josh Myers. Just as Love threw the pass, he was clobbered by the 312-pound Dexter.

How did Love make that throw?

Not so much physically but what did it take mentally?

Every human comes equipped with a fight-or-flight instinct. It’s probably fair to say that 99.9 percent of the population would have chosen flight.

Or duck.

Love chose fight, and the Packers won because of it.

“Obviously, you don’t train that in practice (because) you’re not getting hit,” Love said on Wednesday. “So, it’s one of those things when the game comes, you’ve just got to sit in there. You know you’re going to take a hit.

“The O-line’s doing a great job of trying to keep me clean and buy as much time as possible, but these guys are good on the D-line and sometimes you’re going to take a couple hits. But you’ve just got to focus on trying to lock in on that receiver and put the ball where you’re going to put it. Because we always say, ‘You’re going to get hit, anyway, so you might as well throw a good ball.’”

That sounds simple to say from the comfort of the media scrum on a Wednesday but much more difficult in the whirlwind of the pocket in the closing minutes of a rivalry game.

So, how do you train a quarterback to make that throw?

“Well, you don’t take ones that can’t do that. That’s how you train them,” LaFleur said on Friday. “I don’t know. There’s no magical drill or anything like that. It’s some guys can do it and some guys can’t.

“That’s one of the criteria that when you’re coming out in the draft. We call those ‘no-flinch (throws).’ If you see a guy who has ‘no flinch’ and can stand in there and make those throws, yeah, that’s a prerequisite. If guys will chuck and duck, I don’t think you can play in this league. You don’t take guys who do that.”

Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich was impressed, as well.

“It was a great no-flinch-in-the-pocket (throw),” he said. “There was pressure in his face, he threw a dime, and then a hell of a play by Christian to make that play and then have the instincts to get up and go. I was hoping he was going to score right there but, yeah, that was an unbelievable throw.”

Teams drill it as much as possible, but it’s not as if there’s a weekly period in which Love has to complete an assortment of practices while getting smoked by Brenton Cox.

During individual drills, for instance, a coach will run at the quarterback as he starts his bootleg. During 11-on-11 periods, the pass rush is real other than the defenders not getting to hit the quarterback, so at least there is some simulation of having to make a throw with pressure in his face.

But there’s nothing that could have prepared Love for getting drilled by Dexter.

“You either have it or you don’t,” Stenavich said. “Some guys have that ability to stand in the pocket and make those plays, and I think it’s something that’s just a mindset, really. And he definitely has that, for sure.”

According to Pro Football Focus, 39 quarterbacks have thrown at least 40 under-pressure passes this season. The good: Love is second with 9.0 yards per attempt. The bad: Only two quarterbacks have thrown more interceptions. The mediocre: Love’s 48.0 percent completion rate ranks 22nd.

Love was absolutely sensational against the Bears. Perhaps because he’s healthy again, Love was an incredible 8-of-8 for 185 yards when under pressure.

Love’s ability to create amid the chaos will be critical as the Packers will try to continue their run to the playoffs on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers.

“I think it is kind of mental, but I think just years of playing football you get better at it,” Love said. “But, like I said, it’s hard to train. In the offseason, it’s not like you’ve got a guy running at you, hitting you while you’re throwing.

“So, a little of it is just playing quarterback and knowing that you’re going to take some hits. You’ve got to be that guy to be able to sit in the pocket and deliver the ball.”

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— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) November 22, 2024

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