When the Christmas music overtakes your algorithm, you know it’s Jordan Love Time.
Once again, the Green Bay Packers quarterback is heating up at the best possible time. After slicing up a division rival, Love is currently third in the MVP odds behind Matthew Stafford and Tom Brady, err Drake Maye. (Someone check the DNA.)
Go Long OGs remember when screamed from the mountaintops that this young quarterback would be a star one day. From 2020 to 2021 to 2023 to 2024, OK, this is a take we’ve quadrupled down on. One reason for our conviction is all insight gleaned in real time from the one man who knows Love best.
Steve Calhoun has taught him how to play quarterback since the Bakersfield, Calif., native was 15 years old.
Every offseason, Calhoun is the old-school tutor pushing Love to new heights — from lightly recruited high schooler to Utah State gunslinger to Aaron Rodgers’ backup. There’s plenty of synergy. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur lets Calhoun know what he wants Love to work on… and they drill. And drill. And drill. To the point where Love is ready to replace a Hall of Fame quarterback and lead this team into the future.
When just about everybody was writing off this first-round pick as a bust, Calhoun saw a “quiet assassin” and a talent would could be “one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL.” Mainly because he knew how Love was wired.
Now? Through 13 games, the Packers quarterback is up to 3,023 yards on 67.1 percent passing with 22 touchdowns and only four interceptions.
The day after his 28-21 win over Chicago, I chatted again with Calhoun. Our conversation is transcribed below for subscribers. We get into several topics.
Love’s goal to be one of the best QBs of all-time.
Their No. 1 goal in training this past offseason.
What did Brian Gutekunst see inside Love to risk it all? Lest we forget, the Packers GM was Public Enemy No. 1 in Wisconsin and beyond.
Love’s secret weapon as a quarterback. (It may surprise you.)
Value of hard coaching. (Calhoun is insanely detailed with his fundamentals.)
After back-to-back crushing playoff defeats, how hungry is the QB for his next playoff moment?
What does the Packers-Bears rivalry mean to Love?
Go Long is fueled by you.
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What was the focus with Jordan into this 2025 season? What did you really zero in on that you’re now seeing on Sundays?
Calhoun: Eighty percent of the offseason as far as the stuff we work on — from 13 years ago to now — it never really changes. We’re just trying to really dial in every movement. Try to become a perfectionist. You never can perfect the movement, but you’ve got to try to get as close to perfection as possible. So 80 percent of our workout for the last 13 years has been that. And then the other 20 percent, I get the feedback from Coach LaFleur that he relays through Jordan, where he wants to see him take a step also. So I always add that into the workouts.
What did Matt want out of Jordan this season? What was his feedback?
Calhoun: A couple of things, really. Him really stepping up in the pocket. Staying balanced. When you’re climbing up in the pocket, staying balanced. Not throwing the ball off his back foot where the ball floats. When he has to drive throws, really being able to do it. The first ball he threw to Christian yesterday. There was no pressure, but he just kind of threw it off his back foot. It was Cover 0. It was man to man. He just threw it off his back foot to an area. And to the average person, oh yeah, that’s a great throw. But he could have been balanced and really drove the ball and really looked polished. Those are the things right there. I already shot him a text this morning about those things. And he’s always trying to make little mental notes that I want him to work on during the week to try to perfect it on Sunday.
So you were hard on him this morning even after that win?
Calhoun: Are we trying to be great or do we want to be average? We want to be the best that’s ever done it and we want to win a Super Bowl. I want to be a small part of that village and that team to help him and his teammates and coaching staff, the organization, win the Super Bowl.
So that message this morning was on that fadeaway jumper?
Calhoun: That was it right there.
Aesthetically, it looks pretty cool. I feel like it can be a weapon when you’re avoiding the rush — there’s a lot of good there with the fadeaways… right?
Calhoun: No, I don’t like to fade away if you don’t have to fade away.
The goal is to be the best ever.
Calhoun: That’s it.
He’s a quiet guy, but you see his confidence up close. Is that truly a goal of his — to really go down as one of the greatest?
Calhoun: That’s why you try to play at the highest level — to win as many Super Bowl as you possibly can and be mentioned in the same sense as the best that’ve ever done it. So if you’re not out there trying to do that, then I’m not sure what you’re trying to do. And I know that’s a goal of Jordan’s. To prove it. Especially after the quarterbacks that’ve gone before him, from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers. He wants to be mentioned in the same breath and be there for 10, 12, 13, however many years. They’ve had three quarterbacks in the last 30 years.
What do you attribute that to? A lot of it is planning from the Packers — and letting a guy sit for three years — but seeing it up close and seeing Jordan take that baton, how is this even possible?
Calhoun: The GM, “Gutey,” he’s done a great job of evaluating guys. To find somebody in the late first round — not a lot of fanfare about him. Didn’t play on a big stage in college. Played on a decent stage. But you think about all the quarterbacks that were drafted in front of him from Herbert to Tua to Burrow, you didn’t think Jordan was going to have that type of career. He saw something in Jordan that nobody else saw and pulled the trigger knowing that it was going to upset Aaron Rodgers.
Every GM, every owner, every coach, they’re terrified. They never do it because of that. You don’t want to piss off your Hall of Famer in house, but he wasn’t afraid. You know Jordan better than anybody. What was that trait — if you could point to one thing — that Brian Gutekunst saw? What did he understand and appreciate that nobody else in the NFL could?
Calhoun: I just think the sticktoitiveness. That gene to never want to fail, to try to perfect something. And that’s why I think we get along so well because I’m an absolute perfectionist. It’s everything. I want his arm angle to be at a 37 percent angle and his foot to have 75 percent weight on it versus 80 percent. Those type of details. And even though I’m super, super demanding with Jordan, he always is willing to work on those things because he understands the success he will have when he gets those things done.
That’s what sold me on Drake Maye this year and Jordan a while back. There are some quarterbacks who relish hard coaching. They want you to push them. And then there’s some that’ve been molded since the age of 13 at quarterback camps and coddled and surrounded by agents. Is there something to that? Some quarterbacks may be very talented, but they’ve been told yes their whole lives, so they don’t want to be told no in the pros.
Calhoun: I think Jordan’s always been overlooked in the grand scheme of things whether it’s the Elite 11 or the Rivals (ratings) or whatever it may be, he’s never been that top guy. So he’s always had to work extremely hard to be noticed and work on those fundamentals. And now you can really see it on display — all the work he’s been putting in since he was just a young boy. And the one thing I would really stress is that Jordan loves the basics. He never gets bored with doing the same fundamentals over… and over… and over… and over. Because he understands how important that is. So he’s never like, “Damn, Steve. You want me to make this throw again?” And again, I’m like, “One more time.” And he never says that or gives me any bad body language to even suggest that. He’s just like, “OK, if it’s going to make me great, if it’s going to help me and my teammates win the Super Bowl,’ then I’m going to do it.”
That’s the truth. Look at Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Patrick Mahomes on any of their game-winning drives in a Super Bowl. It’s not like it’s this crazy, improvisational, run-around circus throw. The boring stuff is perfect. Just taking the throw that is there again… and again… and again… and again, and I guess that’s what you’re getting at.
Calhoun: There’s no doubt about it. I mean, this generation, it’s even harder to try to get them to embrace what everybody else would call boring. You talk about the Kobe Bryants and the Michael Jordans or even the Steph Currys who’d shoot a 17-footer over and over and over — 300 times. Like, “Man, no, let’s go ahead and shoot the three.” No, let’s shoot from the elbow first. Let’s make these elbow shots before I even back up. And most of these kids want to shoot from half-court because they see that stuff. But that’s the part right there that Jordan really focuses on and doesn’t mind just doing it over. Those fundamentals. And so that’s what I contribute to him having a great season this year.
Off of another playoff loss, how hungry is he for another opportunity at pursuing the Super Bowl?
Calhoun: It’s just another opportunity. It’s hard. I think Jordan was pressing a little bit with Christian (Watson) being out and then with Jayden Reed being out. He was pressing a little bit, trying to force balls, and now that he has all his weapons back, you can really see what he can do with a full toolbox. So Christian’s playing great and J-Reed’s coming back with that energy he brings to the wide receiver room. So it’s exciting to see.
After this Bears game, Matt LaFleur said Jordan audibled into the game-winning run, which shows the type of command he’s in right now.
Calhoun: I know the last touchdown pass he threw the Christian — that RPO slant to Christian — that he threw the Christian, I know he definitely checked out of a couple of those things. Gave some hand signals to Christian and J-Reed and made that adjustment. It turned out unbelievable for him.
You hate to lose Tucker Kraft. He might’ve been the best tight end in football, but getting Christian back, getting Jayden Reed, it feels like they can use every blade of grass in stretching the field with this speed.
Calhoun: Yeah, they can definitely horizontally stretch the field now and vertically as well.
Your communication with Jordan week to week. Is it phone calls, texts, and what kind of vibe do you get from him as we enter the real football season now?
Calhoun: It’s a combination of both. Now he’s a newlywed, so I always call to check on Ronika and how they’re doing and her career. She retired from playing professional volleyball and she’s doing her whole modeling career now. So always have the opportunity to check on her and of course, check up on Mama Love and the rest of his sisters and stuff. So yeah, it’s kind of a conversation of football and family as well.
He’s up for the Man of the Year Award. That’s a huge accomplishment outside of football. Just kind of tells you what type of person he is and how much he gives back to the community and to the kids. Because he knows there’s a lot of kids that don’t have a lot of role models and it’s easy for them to get lost in this society with the social media stuff. So to have somebody’s stature of a Jordan Love to follow and see how he lives day-to-day and how he treats his wife and his mom and everybody around him, that’s a great person to follow.
What has he been up to off the field?
Calhoun: He’s a homebody. He doesn’t do a whole lot. He loves to spend time with his wife now and has spent time with his family as much as possible, but when it’s football season? Everybody understands that’s Job No. 1. So however much time he needs to put in that, whether it’s film or getting extra body work done or getting in the weight room and just kind of getting his body ready for those 17 games and beyond. But besides that, he’s really a homebody.
This Packers-Bears rivalry has ramped up. The last time they played an important game this late in the season was 2013. Does he see what this rivalry means? To beat the Bears? It is different.
Calhoun: He understands the history between the Packers and the Bears. That was one thing that Aaron always talked about — how he “owned” the Bears. And Jordan was around for three of those years that Aaron was there. So he understands the rivalry and the torch being passed on, and I’m sure he wants to keep that thing going.
It was pretty nice to beat Aaron, too. That had to be sweet.
Calhoun: Yeah, definitely. And in the fashion that they did it, yes.
Thanks for this story Tyler. It is a great read.
MVP until he makes the worst decision at the worst possible time and commits multiple turnovers in playoff games. That’s been his history.