It was only a month ago when two former NFL players-turned-commentators, expressed serious doubt about Jordan Love’s ability to play successful football in the NFL.  "I'm very concerned," Chris Canty said of Love and the Packers' offense on ESPN’s First Take. "Jordan Love is bad, and he's probably going to get his coach fired if he can't get it fixed."  On ESPN’s Get Up, Jeff Saturday expressed a similar sentiment, tersely stating, “He ain’t the guy.” Both takes aged like warm milk. Just a month later, and with four games to go, Love is lighting up the NFL. Currently third in NFL MVP betting odds (behind Matthew Stafford and Drake Maye, and just ahead of last year’s MVP, Josh Allen), if Love continues on his current Toyotathon trajectory, he may very well win the award.  How Love went from “bad” and “not the guy” to the thick of the MVP race in a month’s time takes a bit of dissecting – and it goes back much farther than the disappointing November losses to the Panthers and Eagles. It likely goes all the way back to the 2020 NFL draft. When the Packers traded up for Love in the first round, it became the headline story of the draft – and not in a good way. The backlash was loud, and it was almost universal. According to most, the Packers were on the doorstep of a title with MVP Aaron Rodgers. The team needed to win now, and they should have devoted resources toward that goal.  Additionally, there was the popular narrative that Rodgers never had a first round wide receiver to throw to – a silly and misguided point-of-view that ignored Rodgers’ career full of top-tier weapons. Still, some fans and media almost saw the pick as a betrayal. Love holding a clipboard for his first two seasons did little to quell the frustration. Of course, developing Love was the plan all along, but his inactivity gave fans and media even more time and cause to bash the pick and player. Two years of imagining who the Packers could’ve drafted. Oh, how they yearned for Tee Higgins and Michael Pittman Jr.!  When Love was finally given the starting job in the 2023 season, it followed the messy and dramatic departure of the 4-time MVP, Super Bowl-winning Rodgers, who left Green Bay bitter, disgruntled, and certainly not on his terms.  It was in that environment, and under that immense pressure, that Love was given the keys to the Packers’ future. Maybe it was loyalty to the beloved Rodgers, who “deserved better” or maybe it was a desire to see themselves proven right for all their criticism of the Love pick, but whatever it was – many people were (and still are) rooting for Love to fail.  In a very real way, Love has been digging himself out of that pit of doubt and resentment ever since, and it’s a tremendous credit to the player and person that Love has never once complained about any aspect of his situation.    And so what did Love do in his first year under center? He carried the youngest team in football into the playoffs, blowing away the Cowboys under the bright lights in Texas, and then almost defeating the 49ers in Santa Clara, on the doorstep of an NFC Championship.  Last season, Love battled through numerous injuries, again taking the Packers to the playoffs. Yet, despite two very successful seasons, and under the most intense microscope, the jury was, incredulously, still out on Love.  The media seems committed to the bit again this season, and it's more than just Canty and Saturday’s midseason comments. On ESPN’s First Take this week, there was the chyron: “DO YOU TRUST JORDAN LOVE IN BIG GAMES” with Stephen A. Smith and Cam Newton expressing doubt and setting up the absurd, goalpost-shifting narrative that Love, who has won countless big games, still has more to prove. To his credit, ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky did well to shoot down his colleagues' baseless critiques. It could be that the only way to shut these doubters up for good is for Love and the Packers to win a Super Bowl, and maybe that’s the unfair standard when you’re in the unenviable position of following two Hall of Fame, Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks. Such is life in Titletown. Still, happy and comfortable in his perch, confident in his abilities, and with the full support of his teammates and coaches, you won’t hear Love grumble about any of it.    Filed Under: FeaturedMark Ballard PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Mark Ballard is an obsessive Green Bay Packers fan, born in Buffalo Bills country, but raised right by a Mom from Rice Lake, WI. You can find him on X at @ballark __________________________ NFL Categories: Green Bay PackersTags: Jordan LoveChris CantyJeff Saturday Like 0 points