The Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 35–25 on Sunday Night Football, and the result was less of a surprise shock and more of a data point in an unfolding trend.
Jordan Love completed 29 of 37 passes for 360 yards and three touchdowns; tight end Tucker Kraft had a career night (7 catches, 143 yards, 2 TDs) as Green Bay rallied in the second half to improve to 5–1–1 on the season.
Through seven games Love has 1,798 passing yards, 13 touchdowns and just 2 interceptions, numbers that underline how clean and efficient his 2025 campaign has been.
That efficiency is now carrying into the locker room. After the win, Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons — acquired in a late-August blockbuster from Dallas — offered a succinct endorsement.
“He’s showed he’s the successor,” Parsons said. “He’s the up-and-coming. Like J-Love, talking about when I was coming here, I was like, ‘I know they’ve got a quarterback, I know I’ve got a quarterback.’ I’m just so proud of him, everything he’s been through, how he’s developed as a player, how he’s developed as a person, and he’s just playing some really good football right now.”
Evolution of Jordan Love and the Packers’ offense
Jordan Love’s arc has been steady rather than meteoric. Drafted with long-term upside in mind, he spent years learning behind Aaron Rodgers before the Packers committed to him as a starter. This season that investment has moved past potential and into repeatable production.
The offense has shifted toward a cleaner, higher-efficiency scheme: fewer risky downfield gambles, more emphasis on tempo, play-action sequencing and getting playmakers like Kraft into advantageous matchups. Love’s ball security (low interception rate) and improved processing on pre-snap reads have allowed offensive coordinator game-planning to expand third-down and red-zone options.
The result is a unit that can win close games and convert big moments in primetime — both traits that matter when projecting playoff viability. Love’s steadiness makes the Packers a less volatile result on paper and creates a more reliable blueprint for Green Bay to follow week in and week out.
Following Green Bay’s win over Pittsburgh, Jordan Love’s MVP odds shortened across sportsbooks. The best NFL betting platforms in Canada now list him between +1600 and +2200, depending on the book, placing him inside the top 10.
Love’s 360-yard, three-touchdown performance on Sunday night sparked renewed market interest, pushing him from a mid-tier long shot into the outer circle of contenders behind Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Baker Mayfield.
Bettors see value if Green Bay maintains its strong record, though his path hinges on continued efficiency and marquee wins down the stretch — making Love a high-upside but volatile MVP bet.
Micah Parsons: NFL success and what he brings to Green Bay
Parsons arrived in Green Bay as one of the best pass rushers the NFL has ever seen. Since getting drafted 12th overall in 2021, his value has always been twofold: elite rush-to-pressures ratio and schematic versatility.
Through Week 7 of 2025 he has 59 career sacks in 70 games, four Pro Bowl nods and the 2021 Defensive Rookie of the Year award. Parsons posted at least 12 sacks in each of his first four seasons — a mark shared only with Reggie White — and has been multiple times All-Pro and a three-time finalist for Defensive Player of the Year.
Traded to Green Bay in August 2025, he signed a four-year, $188 million deal, becoming the league’s highest-paid non-QB.
In Green Bay, Parsons has forced quicker decisions from opposing QBs, drawing additional attention from offensive lines (which opens lanes for teammates), and adds coverage flexibility when used as a delayed rusher or blitzer. Through his first seven games, he has 17 total tackles, 6.5 sacks and multiple QB pressures.
The trade that brought him in (which included notable draft capital and Pro Bowl DT Kenny Clark) was costly on paper; on the field it’s already showing returns in terms of opponent adjustments and new defensive wrinkles.
Where this moment leads
Heading into Sunday Night’s Packers-Steelers matchup, Green Bay was a narrow favorite (roughly -3 spread, -155 moneyline) with a modest total around 45.5. The market viewed this as a close primetime game: steady offense under Jordan Love but not explosive, and a defense still being retooled after the blockbuster Micah Parsons acquisition.
Expectations were a tight game where Love’s efficiency would keep Green Bay competitive and Parsons’ pressure could swing possessions, but few projected a double-digit, dominant Packers win.
Two takeaways stand out. First, Green Bay’s investment in Love appears to be paying immediate dividends. Second, the Parsons trade is already altering Green Bay’s defensive identity. Ultimately, an elite quarterback and a dominant pass rusher together tilt championship probability by combining low-variance scoring with game-changing defense.
Jordan Love’s 2025 performance—high passer rating, low interception rate and top-10 yardage—provides consistent offensive output that limits swing-game variance. Micah Parsons’ arrival injects pressure that shortens opponent drives, increases turnovers and opens lanes for complementary defenders, shifting play-calling and lowering opponents’ expected points.
Pass-efficiency generally explains the largest share of wins in the NFL, so pairing elite passing and elite pressure raises a team’s ceiling and stabilizes playoff paths, and improves late-game resilience and depth, making Green Bay a genuine Super Bowl threat.
What to watch next
Green Bay returns home with momentum and a Week 9 matchup against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, Nov. 2 before the Philadelphia Eagles on Nov. 10. Key barometers: whether Love maintains his interception restraint under continued workload and whether opposing coordinators game-plan to limit Parsons’ rush lanes.
Sunday’s win reinforced Jordan Love’s growing status as a franchise quarterback and provided early, tangible returns on the Parsons trade. The combination of an ascending QB and a true game-wrecker at edge moves both the NFL narrative and how we as fans look at Green Bay’s rest of season outlook.
The post ‘He’s the successor’: Micah Parsons’ endorsement of Jordan Love Underscores Packers New Identity first appeared on PackersTalk.com Blog Posts and Podcasts.