Like most NFL quarterbacks, Jordan Love gets more credit than he deserves when the Green Bay Packers are winning and more blame than he deserves when Green Bay struggles. Predictably, there are a lot of questions swirling around about the signal-caller's mediocre play in his team's wretched 1-2 start to the campaign.
The hope in Green Bay was that their Week 3 home game against the lowly Atlanta Falcons on Thursday Night Football would get Love and his teammates back on track. Instead, they stumbled to an ugly 35-14 defeat that saw plenty of fans at Lambeau Field boo their favorite team. Love did throw for 312 yards and two touchdowns against Atlanta's secondary, but it took him 53 pass attempts to produce those statistics.
The downside to his work against the Falcons was that he only posted a QBR of 42.6 while averaging less than six yards per completion. Those more nuanced statistics are a better reflection on how Love and his offense struggled. Much of his raw production was based on his team's need to play catchup for long stretches after Atlanta jumped out to a lead.
A deeper dive into Love's play this year shows that all of his struggles should not be laid at his feet. He's been far from perfect, but he needs more help from his teammates if he's going to help the Packers turn their season around.
Jordan Love needs a lot more help from his offensive line
Critical Packers observers entered the campaign with concerns about their talent up front on offense. A season ending injury to right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele really puts Green Bay in a bind. The team was also forced to play without left guard Aaron Banks on Thursday which compounded the team's issues with protecting their star quarterback.
The team's inability to give Love time to throw is easy to see when watching the Packers play. This year is average pocket time is just 1.2 seconds. That's half the time he enjoyed in both of the last two seasons. If it continues, it will comfortably be the worst mark of his career.
There's no way Love can be efficient with such little time to throw. Head coach Matt LaFleur and his staff must find a way to give him more time to operate in the pocket if they expect his output to improve. Better offensive line play is the first thing the Packers need to address if they want to "fix" Love.
A functional running game would also help Jordan Love
One other way Green Bay could really ease the pressure on Love would be to find a way to run the ball effectively. They only managed to run the ball for 17 yards in their loss to the Falcons. Their efforts in the previous two games were not much better.
Josh Jacobs' absence has been a contributing factor, but again, the offensive line deserves some blame here. Backup MarShawn Lloyd has not seen a lot of holes to run through in relief of the team's bellcow back.
Lloyd has only managed to eek out three yards per carry on the season which often puts his offense in a bind. Combine that with the Packers' insistence on running the ball on first down and it puts Love into tougher situations than necessary on later downs.
Finding a way to forge an efficicent rushing attack could cure a lot of what ails Love and Green Bay's offense. The big question is whether or not the Packers have the personnel to make that happen.
Jordan Love still needs to be more accurate for the Packers' passing game
The one thing Love does need to improve on his own is his accuracy from the pocket. Yes, added pressure has contributed to some poor throws, but it doesn't completely explain how his on target percentage has dropped from 77.4% in 2025 to just 37.7% this year.
The coaching staff should consider helping Love be more accurate by giving him more easy throws. Interestingly, his intented air yards target of 8.8 this year is the highest mark of his career. It's not an outlier based on his previous marks, but it does run contrary to the idea that Green Bay needs to dial their deep throws down due their offensive line struggles.
It may seem simple to just say that Love needs to focus and make more throws on target, but there's some validity to that idea. Putting the ball on his receivers with more ability to produce yards after the catch can help boost the team's offensive efficiency. That might be easier said than done, but it's the one big area Love needs to improve that relies largely within his personal control.
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