GREEN BAY, Wis. — It was never Brett Favre’s job to mentor Aaron Rodgers.
It was never Aaron Rodgers’ job to mentor Jordan Love.
And yet, the approach that Rodgers took to handling Love’s early beginnings was drastically different from that of his predecessor.
“Yeah, throughout our time together, I’ve heard different stories,” Love said after Tuesday’s practice. It was the final session before the Green Bay Packers departed for Pittsburgh for the Aug. 13 preseason opener against Rodgers’ Steelers—a game that both quarterbacks intend to play in, albeit briefly.
The Packers drafted Rodgers with a first-round pick in the 2005 NFL Draft despite having a solidified fan-favorite and franchise icon in Favre under center. Favre, who had won a Super Bowl in Green Bay nine years earlier, didn’t take kindly to the idea that he was essentially being pushed out the door.
The then-35-year-old Favre had spent a concerning amount of time mulling retirement—and would continue to do so over the next three years—before the Packers decided to protect themselves and keep the future of the organization in perspective, much to the quarterback’s chagrin. Rodgers didn’t receive a cold shoulder from Favre as he acclimated to life in the league, but their relationship wasn’t exactly cordial, either.
Favre—the grizzled veteran whose starting job was suddenly under a microscope—felt threatened by Rodgers’ youthful exuberance, although he hardly ever had the chance to see the field. If you’re a young signal-caller just barely getting your feet wet in the league, all you want to do is play—landing in Green Bay and being pigeonholed into a No. 2 job behind a renowned ironman who, going into 2005, had started 225 consecutive games, wasn’t ideal.
All Rodgers could do was ride the bench for three years and absorb as much knowledge from Favre—whether directly from him or simply by observing him—as possible. Anything he was able to gain from Favre was critical in Rodgers’ development, but it was the arrival of Mike McCarthy in 2006 that boosted the level of play of both quarterbacks. McCarthy, who replaced Mike Sherman after a 4-12 season, implemented his “Quarterback School” that would ultimately become an imperative foundation for Rodgers
McCarthy helped refine Rodgers’ mechanics—from the intricate details of his footwork to his release point of the ball. Favre was still the starter—the Packers improved to 8-8 in 2006 and 13-3 in 2007, losing to the New York Giants in the NFC Championship Game—but Rodgers was being groomed for a takeover that was on the horizon.
Favre flirted with retirement at the end of each season, getting Rodgers’ hopes up each time and making him believe that he was finally going to take the reins, but to no avail. It wasn’t until the summer of 2008 that Favre finally retired and Rodgers took his rightful place atop the depth chart, but that wasn’t the end of the saga.
Favre wanted to return—and clamoring fans of the team had a similar desire that they certainly didn’t shy away from expressing—but the Packers had already moved forward with Rodgers. The messy affair culminated in Favre being traded to the New York Jets later that summer. He spent one season in the Big Apple before returning to the NFC North as a member of the Minnesota Vikings—a vindictive, guerrilla warfareesque maneuver that would allow Favre to do battle with his former team of 16 seasons.
With vengeance surging through him, 40-year-old Favre swept the Packers in 2009 amid one of the best seasons of his career. The following year, however, wasn’t so kind. The Packers returned the favor, sweeping Favre’s Vikings en route to a Super Bowl win.
It was Rodgers’ team now. That was true the moment he emerged from the tunnel at Lambeau Field for the 2008 regular-season opener against the Vikings, and it was cemented in stone three years later when he was hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy as Clay Matthews draped a customized WWE World Heavyweight Championship replica belt over his shoulder.
15 years later, an eerily comparable pattern of events unfolded, but nowhere near as turbulent.
The Packers spent a first-round pick on Love in the spring of 2020, and while it took Rodgers some time to accept the reality that he wasn’t going to be able to finish his career with one team in Green Bay like the Kobe Bryants and the Tim Duncans of the world, the pair eventually grew close. Love, who remained a backup for three seasons à la Rodgers, witnessed firsthand as the future Hall of Famer won back-to-back MVP awards in what could only be described as a late-career resurgence. Rodgers’ performances during the 2020 and 2021 seasons even prompted many to speculate that the Packers would ultimately trade Love.
It was a good thing they didn’t, because much like Rodgers, there was a singular moment where Love validated the team’s polarizing decision to draft him.
For Rodgers, it was when Favre exited a Nov. 29 game against the top-seeded Dallas Cowboys with an elbow injury in 2007. He completed just north of 69 percent of his passes for 201 yards and a touchdown, while also showcasing his mobility with 24 rushing yards in a losing effort.
For Love, it was when Rodgers exited a Nov. 27 game against the top-seeded Philadelphia Eagles—coincidentally, another NFC East team—with a rib injury in 2022. Love completed six of his nine passing attempts for 113 yards and a 63-yard touchdown pass to Christian Watson in a losing effort.
It isn’t easy being the heir apparent and not knowing when you’re going to be called to the plate, and Rodgers knows that better than anyone.
“He wanted his approach with me to be a little different, which is great,” Love said. “But at the same time, I’m going through my own journey—I wasn’t here to experience some of the stuff he went through, so all I got is what I know and what I saw.
“I’ve mentioned it time and time again, but I have nothing but great things to say about A-Rod, and my time sitting behind him, watching him, how much I was able to develop and grow in my process seeing him. The transition—I think for the organization, that’s never easy, and for the players, it’s not something that’s ever easy, either. For a guy that’s been here that long and done so many great things, those are big shoes to fill. For me, I try to focus on being my best and doing the best job I can for the team.”
The Packers and Rodgers were both ready to amicably part ways in the spring of 2023. Rodgers, ironically, was traded to the Jets, where he’d really only play one season despite being on the roster for two years. He sustained a torn Achilles tendon just minutes into his first regular-season game under center.
The Packers, meanwhile, have earned playoff berths in three consecutive years with Love at the helm, but have yet to appear in an NFC Championship Game. That isn’t to say they aren’t satisfied with their transition of power into an era of Love—the Utah State product has blossomed each year. Learning under a legend’s watch for three years and having the opportunity to work with Rodgers’ longtime position coach, Tom Clements, has paid significant dividends for Love as he prepares to enter his fourth season as the starting quarterback in Green Bay.
Thursday won’t mark the first time that Rodgers and Love entered the battlefield on opposing sidelines. The Packers and Steelers met in primetime last season, and after falling behind 16-7, Love helped engineer a 28-9 run to overcome Rodgers’ squad with a two-score victory. It was in large part thanks to his arm, finishing the game with 360 passing yards and three touchdowns—he was 16-of-19 for 214 yards and two touchdowns in the second half.
It may have been the best Love had looked all season, and it was the idea encapsulation of the consistency that he’s constantly chasing. Even with 51 starts under his belt since 2023, attaining the level of consistency with which Rodgers played the position is no easy feat, but if anyone can do it, his protégé certainly can.
“Coming from college, you think you’re good, you think you do a lot of good things,” said Love. “And then you see someone who just plays out of this world every single day in practice. He’s making the right reads. It felt like every play he’s making the right protection checks, just doing the right stuff day in and day out.
“The stuff he was doing in practice translated to the games. I think that was the biggest thing for me to see and be like, ‘Man, there’s a lot of growth and room to work on for me to be able to get consistently great.’ I think that was the best thing I saw.”
Entering his 22nd season in the league, this year will mark Rodgers’ second with the Steelers. After the organization parted ways with longtime head coach Mike Tomlin following another premature playoff exit, they hired McCarthy this past offseason—presumably in an effort to lure Rodgers away from retirement and back to Pittsburgh. Rodgers, 42, has publicly stated that the 2026 campaign will be his last. He’ll be side-by-side with McCarthy, who coached Rodgers for 13 seasons in Green Bay.