Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love and San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy will get their first taste of the longstanding rivalry between the two franchises when they meet in an NFC divisional round playoff game Saturday night.
It will be an NFL-record 10th playoff meeting between the two teams. The 49ers (12-5) hold a narrow 5-4 playoff edge over the Packers (10-8), winning the last matchup two years ago at Lambeau Field, 13-10.
Much has changed since that game, which featured since-departed quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Jimmy Garoppolo for the Packers and 49ers, respectively.
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 mere months away from becoming “Mr. Irrelevant” as the final pick in the NFL draft.
Two years later, Love and Purdy will be the focal points for their teams Saturday night at Levi’s Stadium, even though they each have less than two seasons of experience as NFL starting quarterbacks.
Both players enter the game with one playoff victory apiece. While Purdy and the 49ers sat out last week with a first-round bye, Love and the No. 7 seed Packers pulled off an upset, with a 48-32 beatdown of the Dallas Cowboys.
Let’s compare the two QB and see which one will have the advantage Saturday night.
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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:
| Comp.% | Yds./G | Yds/Att. | TD | Int. | QB Rating | |
| First 9 games | 58.7 | 223.2 | 6.7 | 14 | 10 | 83.9 |
| Past 9 games | 70.7 | 269.1 | 8.1 | 21 | 1 | 117.9 |
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.
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If it wasn’t for Brock Purdy’s four-interception performance against the Baltimore Ravens on Christmas night, we’d be talking about him as the hands-down NFL Most Valuable Player.
But one bad night was all it took to permanently eliminate any possibility of Purdy earning the sport’s top individual honor. Otherwise, looking at the quarterback metrics would be enough to convince anyone that he’s been the NFL’s top quarterback in 2023.
Brock Purdy’s numbers: 1st in QB rating (113.0), QBR (72.7), Yards/Att. (9.9), TD% 7.0
Other than having command of Shanahan’s intricate offensive scheme, Purdy enjoys the benefit of having perhaps the league’s best talent around him. some of the league’s best offensive talent.
He’s consistently able to deliver the football to Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, and George Kittle with timing and room for them to run. As long as he continues to execute Shahan’s brilliant play designs to perfection, Purdy will always have the edge.
The difference Saturday will come in the form of the defenses that Love and Purdy will be facing.
Last week against Dallas, the Packers bludgeoned the Cowboys’ defense for 48 points. As he has for the past several weeks, Love benefitted greatly from the running of Aaron Jones, who eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the fourth straight week and scored three touchdowns. Jones’ running opened up the passing game for Love, who delivered strikes downfield.
The problem against the 49ers’ defense is that they are third in points allowed and against the rush, and they haven’t allowed a single running back to reach 100 yards all season.
If the 49ers can slow down Jones, it’s likely they can make Love and the Packers’ offense one-dimensional. And by the way, the 49ers are tied for the league lead in interceptions with 22.
Speaking of interceptions, the Packers’ defense forced Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott to throw two, one of them a pick-six. They’ll need to do the same against Purdy, but like Love with Jones, he will lean heavily on Christian McCaffrey, the NFL’s leading rusher, to carry the ground game.
Thwarting the running game and forcing Purdy into third-and-long situations, where he’s more susceptible to interceptions, is the key to Love coming out on top over Purdy and to Green Bay scoring an upset.