‘Resilient’ Love, Packers secure NFC’s No. 7 seed

Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff WriterJan 7, 2024, 07:16 PM ET
Close

GREEN BAY, Wis. — A distinct smell — and some smoke — hung over the home locker room at Lambeau Field early Sunday evening. It came from the victory cigars.

Welcome to the playoffs, Jordan Love.

What seemed like a long shot less than a month ago — a 27% chance, to be exact, after the Week 15 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — turned into a sure thing when the Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago Bears 17-9 in Sunday’s regular-season finale at Lambeau Field.

As the No. 7 seed, the Packers will play the second-seeded Dallas Cowboys in the wild-card round next weekend.

Love pulled off something that neither Brett Favre nor Aaron Rodgers could manage: He led the Packers to a playoff berth in his first season as the full-time starting quarterback. It wasn’t until Year 2 as the starter that Favre and Rodgers led the Packers to the playoffs.

“He’s just resilient,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said of Love. “Those are things you cannot coach. You can sit there and talk about it till you’re blue in the face. However, that’s something he possesses, and I admire him for that, his ability to stay even keel, to battle through adversity, to lead our team.”

This from a quarterback who before this season had started exactly one NFL game — and it was two years ago. Halfway through the season there were questions about whether Love would even be the quarterback of his team next season.

“I said it back in camp, he’s the best quarterback in the league,” Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander said with a cigar stuck in his headband. “And he’s been proving it these past few weeks.”

He certainly finished it like one of the best in the league by throwing for 316 yards and two touchdowns and completing 84.4% of his passes (27-of-32). It was the second-most passing yards in a game of his young career and his highest completion percentage.

And this from the youngest team in the NFL that at one point had lost four straight to fall to 2-5.

“It was tough, [the] 2-5 start,” Love said. “But the main thing that we did was stick together. Everybody came into the building finding ways to try to get better, improving themselves and make the team better. It’s obviously been a process for us. It hasn’t been easy. There’s been ups and downs, but we stuck together, we were able to get on a win streak and like I said, put ourselves in this position. Credit to everybody in the locker room.”

Green Bay was in this same position last year — win in Week 18 and get in — and lost at home to the Lions in what turned out to be Rodgers’ final game with the Packers. The Packers finished 8-9 last season and missed the playoffs with Love watching from the sideline as Rodgers’ backup.

“It’s a different year, a different team,” said LaFleur, who has now led the Packers to the playoffs in four of his five seasons. “I’m tired of talking about last year.”

This team was essentially in playoff mode ever since that loss to the Buccaneers and won three straight to finish 9-8.

Sunday’s game epitomized the Packers’ offense. With Christian Watson out (hamstring) and Romeo Doubs suffering a chest injury in the first half, rookie fifth-round pick Dontayvion Wicks caught two touchdown passes, which gave the Packers 31 receiving touchdowns by first- and second-year players, which is tied with the 1960 New York Titans for second most such scores in NFL history, trailing only the 1961 Oilers (44), according to Elias Sports Bureau.

Joe Barry, the Packers’ oft-criticized defensive coordinator, called some well-timed blitzes, and the Packers sacked Bears QB Justin Fields five times. However, Sunday’s game wasn’t without its uncertain moments.

Rookie Anders Carlson missed a 41-yard field goal in the first quarter. The Packers then botched the last drive of the first half, running out of time deep in Bears territory before they could kick a field goal in what was a 7-6 game. Then, Love fumbled on a scramble near midfield late in the third quarter of a 14-6 game.

However, the Bears could manage only another field goal off that turnover to make it 14-9 with 13:03 remaining. Then, after a 59-yard catch-and-run by rookie Jayden Reed (who had four catches for 112 yards), the Packers had to settle for another field goal and a 17-9 lead with 10:54 left.

Love, who finished 27-of-32 passing for 316 yards and two touchdowns, and the offense ended it by running out the final 6 minutes and 8 seconds.

The Packers got into the postseason with running back Aaron Jones (22 carries for 111 yards) on a run of three straight 100-yard games.

“People counted us out before we even got an opportunity, and then when we were down, people were really counting us out,” Jones said. “But I think the best part is we believed in this locker room. We stuck together, and that’s all you need. The process was there. We got better each week, and to come out on the right side of this is amazing, especially after being in this situation last year and not coming out on the right side.”

Some players, however, missed out on the postgame cigars.

“I wish I would’ve gotten the memo because I would’ve lit one up, too,” Packers right guard Jon Runyan said. “I would’ve liked to be included on that, but I guess we’re going to have to wait for the Super Bowl now.”