Expectations are high for the Green Bay Packers heading into the 2025 season. The belief is that the team can evolve into a legitimate contender with a roster built to compete for the NFC North and make a deep playoff run.

The division appears to be up for grabs. The Packers, Lions, Vikings and Bears have all improved their rosters this offseason. But in a league where quarterback play often decides division races, the spotlight will be on Jordan Love.

Love, entering his third season as Green Bay’s starter, is facing what many consider a make-or-break year.

“Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love has won more games than he has lost under center. Thrown over twice as many touchdown passes as interceptions. And earned a four-year, $220 million extension from the Pack,” Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport wrote. “But Love has also thrown double-digit interceptions in each of the past two seasons, and after an up-and-down 2024 campaign, there are rumblings that Love is entering a 'make-or-break' sixth season.”

Technically, this will be Love’s fifth year in the NFL, but just his third as the full-time starter after sitting behind Aaron Rodgers for two seasons. Since taking over, the Packers have built around him—especially this offseason, when they added first-round wide receiver Matthew Golden.

"Is Jordan Love a top-tier quarterback or a mediocre one with a high-end offensive play-caller, Matt LaFleur, and a plethora of playmakers?" Davenport asked.

Now that Love has a deep receiving corps, excuses are running out. He’s expected not only to benefit from the weapons around him, but to elevate them as well.

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“If the Packers want to dethrone the Detroit Lions in the NFC North and get into the Super Bowl discussion, Love has to prove he’s worth his recent four-year, $220 million contract extension,” Bleacher Report’s Moe Moton wrote. “He has plenty of options in the passing game: Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs, Matthew Golden, Dontayvion Wicks, Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave. Forget the need for a wideout to emerge as the go-to target; Love must uplift his pass-catching unit for the Packers to become an elite team.”

One major issue that plagued Love last season was injuries, which forced him to miss two games. He also dealt with unreliable hands—his receivers dropped 25 passes in 2024.

“What is a step back, is what I’d ask,” Love said. “Everybody has different opinions, things like that. You’ve got to block that stuff out. It’s all about the goals of the team. At the end of the day, I’d say we won more games than we did the year before. So that’s why I ask people, what is a step back? Everybody has opinions and things like that. You try to block that out and just focus on doing me, being the best player I can be and go forward. At the end of the day, personal stats and things like that, that’s all in the back. You’ve got to focus on goals of the team first and foremost.”

Despite the setbacks, Love still threw for more than 3,300 yards and 25 touchdowns, though he matched a career high with 11 interceptions. His completion percentage dipped slightly, from 64.2 to 63.1. Factoring in the drops and injuries, his 2024 season could be chalked up to bad luck.

That excuse won’t fly in 2025.