's first season as the unquestioned starting quarterback for the Green Bay Packers began as a roller coaster. He immediately rose to tall heights, throwing three touchdown passes in each of his first two games, then leading a comeback victory over the New Orleans Saints in Week 3 to start the post-Aaron Rodgers era off with a bang. Then, the accuracy issues that were acceptable in wins became concerning in a four-game losing streak that helped drop Green Bay to 3-6 and in position for a top 10 draft pick rather than a playoff run.
After that, another climb. The accuracy issues and turnovers abated. The Packers rallied to the playoffs and beat the brakes off the Dallas Cowboys in Texas before bowing out to the eventual NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers a week later.
This has all set the bar high in Wisconsin, where the Packers have the fourth-best odds to win the conference crown behind the Niners, Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions. So how confident should Green Bay be in a player who looks like the next link in a proud chain of franchise quarterbacks? Let's chart Love's debut season as QB1. And since I'm basic, let's just use passer rating to do so.
That's a big start, an immediate cratering and then, whooooooo, a rocketship. From Week 11 through the Wild Card round, Love played nine games and had a rating of 108 or better in all but one (a loss to Tommy DeVito and the New York Giants. .
In those nine games he threw 21 touchdown passes against a single interception and was.