2023 NFL Power Rankings: Green Bay Packers

Biggest offseason contract to watch: QB Jordan Love

After the kind of season he has put together in his first year as a starter, Love is going to want the Packers to tear up his existing contract, which averages just $13.5 million per year and will pay him only $6 million (plus incentives) this season. While they can't do anything until May because of the rule that says an extension can't be extended for 12 months, Love will almost certainly want it done before he takes the field for the 2024 season. Although the Packers got Love's services on the cheap this year, they're going to end up paying him near the top of the quarterback market next year. -- Rob Demovsky

The Packers' first post-Aaron Rodgers season opened with a win over the Bears, and it will take a reprise of that Sunday -- at Lambeau Field -- to get Jordan Love and Green Bay into the postseason. Chicago is a far different team than it was the last time around, arguably just as hot as the Packers down the stretch, with both teams having won five of their past seven games. Love reached the 30-TD mark in Sunday's win over the Vikings. Don't look now, but he's had a really impressive season on the whole. Week 1 hero Aaron Jones is back, too, turning in a 120-yard rushing performance against Minnesota. And assuming Jayden Reed is healthy, he's proving to be a rookie star in the making. Matt LaFleur has never lost to the Bears, who haven't won in Green Bay since 2015. Week 18 will add another terrific chapter to this historic rivalry, with the playoffs on the line and a feisty Chicago team that would love nothing more than to spoil a Pack party.

Jordan Love has really played well in the second half of the season. If they beat the Bears, they will be a playoff team.

Neither Brett Favre nor Aaron Rodgers threw 30 TD passes in their first seasons as GB QB1. Jordan Love has — though the question now is whether he, too, has an ownership stake of the Bears.

The lesson: Draft quarterbacks early

Jordan Love is third in the NFL in touchdown passes (30) and ninth in EPA per attempt (.19) in his first season as the full-time starter. That's after spending two seasons on the bench before replacing Aaron Rodgers, who spent three seasons on the bench before replacing Brett Favre. The Packers look like they're going to end up having three good to very good, long-term quarterbacks, and there's no secret to why. They draft the quarterbacks they like when that player is available and are patient enough to let him sit until the right time.

The youngest team in the league has a simple task: beat your biggest rival at home and make the postseason. As impressive as Jordan Love and his offense have looked, they should be up to the task of beating the Bears. But then again, the Chicago defense is playing exceptionally and this is an interesting spot for such a young team to be in.

The Packers have gone up and down and back up and back down, and now they're up again. What a weird season they've had. But making the playoffs, which Green Bay will accomplish with a Week 18 win, would be a success in a big transition season.

So far, so good for Jordan Love.

Tweets by @EDSFootball