It was as ugly — although not as costly — as the interception against the Cleveland Browns this year. It was as ugly as the interception that Jordan Love chucked up into triple coverage against the Carolina Panthers in a stunning home loss in Week 9.
Love’s interception on the opening drive against the Chicago Bears was another head scratcher, with no Packers pass catcher in the same area code as where the pass ended up.
The way Love responded showed the fortitude he has to overcome what was a less-than-ideal start on Sunday.
It was evident that Chicago defensive coordinator Dennis Allen prioritized getting to Love in any fashion possible. When rushing four wasn’t doing the job, Allen wasn’t afraid to dial up the blitz. The problem was that Love was 9 for 12 when facing the blitz against the Bears for 171 yards, three touchdowns, and a passer rating of 156.3, per PFF.
Love has been phenomenal when kept in a clean pocket this year, throwing just one interception opposed to 19 touchdowns. Entering Sunday’s affair, Chicago was 31st in the NFL in pressure rate at 28.7%. Seeing Allen repeatedly blitzing wasn’t surprising, but it played into Green Bay’s hands.
An offensive line that was much maligned early in the season has seemingly found a rhythm, with Sean Rhyan at center and rookie Anthony Belton at right guard. That group did its part against Chicago, and Love sliced and diced his way to a terrific afternoon.
On Christian Watson‘s second touchdown of the game, which came in a critical spot, Love and Watson made it look like a practice rep.
Chicago showed Cover 0, and Love checked at the line. Watson was lined up in the slot against C.J. Gardner-Johnson at the bottom of the screen. When Love checked, Watson literally pointed at Gardner-Johnson to get Love’s attention. The insinuation was that they knew the blitz was coming, there was no deep safety, and there was an easy play to be had.
Watson ran slant, Love made the throw, and Watson breezed by Gardner-Johnson and waltzed to the end zone. A 14-11 lead late in the third quarter turned into a 21-11 cushion in the snap of a finger because Love was locked in.
He’s fast, boiiiiii#ProBowlVote + Christian Watson#ProBowlVote + Jordan Love
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— Green Bay Packers (@packers) December 7, 2025
When asked about it after the game, Watson confirmed what his pre-snap thoughts were telling him.
That was huge honestly. As soon as I saw Jordan make the check, honestly I’d like to say I knew it was going to be a touchdown. Anytime we get man coverage that’s the mentality that we should have. It worked out.
Love earned the highest grade from PFF among all Green Bay players with a 90.4, which is elite. That’s with the opening-drive interception on the résumé. In a massive game with big-time implications within the division, that early interception could’ve derailed the mindset for Love and the offense.
We’ve seen these types of egregious interceptions before from Green Bay’s QB1. He hasn’t thrown many this year, but when he does, they often defy logic. Instead, Love responded by shredding Chicago’s secondary and coming up with one big play after another in the second half.
Chicago’s defense entered the game leading the NFL in takeaways and interceptions. Getting one on the opening drive could’ve opened the floodgates. It didn’t, and Love deserves a lot of credit for that, especially considering the magnitude of the matchup. Love noted the importance of the win afterwards.
It’s a very big win. Obviously, just where we’re at in the NFC North and the division that we have, I think we’ve got some really good teams in this division and, obviously, the Bears were on top. We knew what it was coming into it, and it’s a huge win. Obviously, we’ll be seeing these guys here again in a couple weeks.
Matt LaFleur also deserves a lot of credit for this. We’ve seen times this year when the game plan has been far too vanilla, when he tends toward conservatism instead of going for the jugular. The early interception didn’t deter LaFleur from the plan, and that was evident none more than in how he called the game the rest of the way. Love’s three touchdown passes went for 23, 45, and 41 yards. It’s an offense that thrives on the big-play and got plenty of them after a shaky start.
Love showed the mental fortitude he and the Packers need from him after an interception on the opening drive. Things could’ve gone south after that first stumble. Instead, Love put together another masterpiece that mirrored what he did on Thanksgiving against the Detroit Lions.
Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised. It is Toyotathon after all.