Love and the Packers: Will this be the big love affair? The quarterback is undoubtedly making a performance to fall in love with at the Lions.

Jordan Love made the statement well before the game.

On Thursday morning, to be precise. Because that’s when he contradicted his coach. Matt LaFleur wrote to his quarterback that he wanted to change the first play. That had basically been clear since Wednesday. After all, when you play an explosive surprise team, you have to take an aggressive risk.

Love therefore said no and emphasized that he wanted to stick with it. And then, as planned, he fired the “bomb” 53 yards to Christian Watson after just a few seconds.

It was the starting signal for a performance with which Love finally provided the longed-for exclamation mark on his own behalf. A performance to fall in love with. He set the tone in a game that belonged to the Packers right from the start. And which they never let out of their hands.

At last, the fans in Green Bay should breathe a sigh of relief

Jordan Love: Strong numbers

268 yards, three touchdowns, a rating of 125.5 – the playmaker was finally one of them in the somewhat surprising 29-22 win. And that against one of the league’s top defenses.

He has not thrown further than the 53 yards to Watson in his NFL career, and he has not run further than the 37 yards he put on the field late in the final quarter.

What the Lions threw to the Packers, Love and Co. grabbed. “That’s definitely my favorite Thanksgiving memory. I think that’s the hallmark of this team. We don’t flinch,” Love said.

His coach hopes that this team will now start to perform consistently as an overall construct. “Hopefully we’re starting to catch ourselves a little bit. This win will give us a lot of confidence,” said LaFleur.

Above all, it should give Love confidence.

Of course, his performance with the Lions isn’t the final answer to the pressing question of whether the Packers have truly found their franchise quarterback.

But the love affair between Love and a franchise in its discovery phase in the still early post-Rodgers era is heating up.

Green Bay Packers: On the road to an answer

Games like Detroit may not be the answer yet, but they’re leading straight to it, in part because things have been going better and better of late, in some ways setting up his best performance to date for weeks.

In a season that, as expected, has had its ups and downs for the quarterback, the 25-year-old seems to be finding something like consistency, as well as franchise-worthy throws and solutions and a self-image to go with them.

Signature win is what they call something like Thursday in the USA. A statement win.

And at a level that is slowly but surely turning the Packers into a playoff contender.

“We’ve seen what he’s been capable of since he got the starting job. Obviously we knew we were going to face some adversity and stuff like that, but he just keeps going and I think he’s got a bright future,” Watson had said before the Lions game.

How is it that after four straight losses between Weeks 4 and 8, the Packers have turned the momentum on their side with three wins out of four games after that?

“It definitely feels different. I think it’s just part of the process, taking it week by week, focusing on what we need to do that week to get better, focusing on areas we need to improve, going out and practicing hard all week long,” Love said.

“And then the growth shows. It’s just a testament that everyone is committed to the process, that we’re not complaining because things aren’t perfect yet, and that we continue to compete with that mindset. “

Green Bay Packers: Feasible remaining schedule

Where this attitude will take the Packers will become clear in the coming weeks. They face the Kansas City Chiefs in early December, then the New York Giants, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Carolina Panthers, the Minnesota Vikings and then the Chicago Bears.

Many doable tasks. Lots of opportunities to make further statements