‘We want to be the best that’s ever done it:’ A chat with Steve Calhoun on Packers QB Jordan Love
Jordan Love is in the MVP conversation. Where specifically has his game taken a jump in Year 3 as the starter? What drives him? We chat again with the coach who knows him best.
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.
Thank you for supporting our independent journalism five years strong.
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 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?