Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love and San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy will experience their first taste of the two organizations’ long-standing rivalry when they meet in an NFC divisional round playoff game on Saturday night.
The two teams will meet for the 10th time in the playoffs, an NFL record. The 49ers (12-5) have a slim 5-4 playoff lead over the Packers (10-8), having won the first meeting 13-10 at Lambeau Field two years ago.
Much has changed since that game, which featured Packers and 49ers quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Jimmy Garoppolo, who have since left the teams.
Jordan Love was on the Green Bay roster at the time, serving as Rodgers’ backup, while Purdy was finishing up at Iowa State and was just a few months away from being “Mr. Irrelevant” as the NFL draft’s final pick.
Love and Purdy will be the focal focuses for their teams on Saturday night at Levi’s Stadium, despite having fewer than two seasons of NFL starting quarterback experience apiece.
Both players enter the game with one playoff win each. While Purdy and the 49ers had a first-round bye last week, Love and the No. 7 seed Packers shocked the Dallas Cowboys with a 48-32 victory.
Let’s compare the two quarterbacks and see who will have the advantage Saturday night.
After being drafted with the 25th pick in the 2020 draft, Jordan Love watched and waited three years behind Rodgers for his opportunity to be the Packers’ starting quarterback.
The 2023 season got off to a bumpy start for Love and the Packers. While Love struggled with accuracy and turnovers, Green Bay went 3-6 over its first nine games. But then Love made an amazing turnaround that completely changed the course of the Packers’ season.
Here are Love’s numbers in the first nine games compared to the second nine games.
The 21-to-1 TD pass-to-interception ratio is rather astounding. Love reached his peak last week when he came within one incompletion of a perfect QB rating in the Packers’ shocking blowout of the Dallas Cowboys.
What plays in Love’s favor heading into a game against the No. 1 in the NFC is that he’s playing with extreme confidence, he’s throwing with command and precision, and he’s executing the game plan of head coach Matt LaFleur to perfection.
If there’s any NFL coach who knows and understands the 49ers, it’s LaFleur, who coached with 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan on three different teams and has beaten Shanahan in their past two regular-season meetings, both at Levi’s Stadium. For Love, that’s a huge asset and should help prepare him both mentally and physically for the challenge.