The Green Bay Packers played a lot of close games in 2023.  Several of them came down to a possession in the final minutes.   Situations where Jordan Love was being relied upon to lead the team down the field with the clock winding down, in an attempt to score the come from behind touchdown, or at least get the team into position to kick a field goal. 

The results for the first year starter were mixed at best.  In week two against the Falcons, the Packers got the ball on their own 25 yard line with 57 seconds left to play, trailing by one point.  Love threw four consecutive incomplete passes in a 25-24 loss.  The following week, Love led a dramatic comeback from a 17 point deficit in the fourth quarter, including the winning touchdown throw to Romeo Doubs with 2:59 remaining to pull out an 18-17 victory. 

Against the Raiders, Love, trailing by four with under two minutes to play, engineered a fairly impressive drive to the Las Vegas 35 yard line, but then threw an interception in the end zone.  Against the Broncos Love had the ball first and ten on his own 25 with 3:50 to play, down by two.  After six plays he was intercepted at midfield to end the game. 

In week ten Green Bay trailed the Steelers by four, taking the ball on their own 19 yard line with 59 seconds to play.  Again, Love moved the team impressively down the field on six plays, advancing to the Pittsburgh 16 yard line.  But on second and ten Love was picked again resulting in another loss.  But then against the Chargers, trailing by four, Love piloted a masterful seven play drive culminating with the winning TD pass to Doubs with  2:33 on the clock. 

Playing the Giants, Love took over after a late fumble and presided over a nine play drive, ending with a scoring pass to Malik Heath to take a one point lead with 1:36 left.  This time the defense let down, allowing the Giants to kick a walk-off field goal in the infamous “Tommy DeVito” game.  At Carolina, Love took the Packers sixty yards in eight plays for the go-ahead field goal with 22 seconds left to play.  Finally, there was the painful failure at San Francisco in the divisional playoff game where Love threw across the middle late and was intercepted to end the season. 

As you can see, Love was not terrible in the clutch, but he wasn’t consistently good either.  It should be pointed out Love was not solely responsible for the failures.  Receivers often ran the wrong route or dropped an accurate pass.  There were offensive line breakdowns and defensive collapses.  But the QB is usually held accountable for the final result.  That’s why they make the big bucks. 

Mindful of that, Matt LaFleur has his fifth year veteran calling his own plays in two minute drills during this training camp.  “I just think it’s good for him to be in an uncomfortable situation and get that experience,” LaFleur said Thursday.  Just as they were was last season, the results in this camp have been mixed.  Love has led the first team offense on some impressive scoring drives, but has also thrown some picks and missed a few open receivers.  “It’s kind of a work in progress,” LaFleur allows.   

The head coach and offensive play caller is still getting to know his second year starter, and letting number ten call his own stuff is helping the relationship.  “Number one, I want to see what he likes, and what he’s thinking, and why he’s thinking it.  I think that’ll help us moving forward when we get into games.” 

When a play caller and his quarterback become of one mind and rhythm in a game, it can be a beautiful thing.  A good example came in Green Bay’s thumping of the Cowboys in the wild card round last January.  Love led touchdown drives of twelve, ten and eight plays, on his way to a six touchdown performance.  There was not a single delay of game or false start penalty on the offense.  The timing and sync of plays coming in gave Love plenty of time to make the call in the huddle, and then read the defensive formation prior to the snap.  His execution was flawless, as indicated by his near-perfect passer rating. 

The schedule is tougher this year.  Winning close games will be critical to any deep playoff run.  No doubt many will once again come down to a last minute possession.  This year LaFleur may trust his signal caller to call his own plays during those drives.  The ground work for that green light is being laid right now.  It’s the latest step in Jordan Love’s evolution into the next Green Bay championship quarterback.