The Green Bay Packers control their fate coming into Week 18 of the 2023 NFL regular season. A victory over the Chicago Bears guarantees them a Wild Card spot in the NFC playoffs. It’s an impressive transformation for a team that was 3-6 seven weeks ago, and quarterback Jordan Love is a big reason for their turnaround.

Pro Football Focus pointed out that since Week 11, the first-year, full-fledged Packers' starting quarterback has had 16 passing touchdowns and one interception. That's the best rate in those categories in the seven weeks.

More importantly, Green Bay went 5-2 during that timeframe, earning victories against the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, and defending Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs. Meanwhile, his only interception came in their Week 14 loss to the New York Giants. It's also the only game over that stretch wherein he didn't have multiple touchdown passes.

He had three scoring throws each against the Chiefs, the Lions, and the Vikings. Love had two against the Los Angeles Chargers and two versus the Carolina Panthers. His lowest completion percentage from Weeks 11 to 17 is 60.7 percent, and he went over 70 percent against the Vikings (72.7) and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (74.4).

Those totals improved Love's numbers to 345 completions for 3,843 yards, 30 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. The former Utah State standout has four rushing touchdowns, including one each in Weeks 16 and 17.

These numbers make Jordan Love the rightful choice when the Packers selected him in the 2020 NFL Draft. However, he took his time learning from Aaron Rodgers, who won two Most Valuable Player awards after Green Bay drafted Love.

As Love and the Packers gear up against the Bears in Week 18, they will have home-field advantage at Lambeau Field, wherein they've won three of their last four games.

-Lance Fernandez