Jaire Alexander has gone from Pro Bowl cornerback to All-Pro pain in the neck.

De’Vondre Campbell’s final days will be remembered more for his Twitter attacks than any hit he made on the field.

And Matt LaFleur’s leadership skills are being questioned by everyone from Burlington to Bayfield.

The Green Bay Packers have become one of the more dysfunctional bunches in the NFL, making far more noise for their internal spats and coin flip flubs than winning or losing games.

Here’s the good news, though.

Amidst the drama, fuss, and theatrics caused by a few bad apples, the Packers have gotten a thumbs up on their most important question of 2023.

Green Bay learned that quarterback Jordan Love is capable of great things. And no matter what happens these final two games—as the Packers chase a playoff spot—Love’s emergence has already made 2023 an overwhelming success.

“I think we can all agree that he’s come a long way, and there’s still a lot to improve upon,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said of Love on Thursday. “And that’s what’s so exciting, because he’s playing at a very high level right now, and I still think there’s more out there for him. So, that’s exciting for him and all of us.”

Management will never tell this to paying customers, but this season was never about wins or losses in Titletown.

Instead, it was about finding out if Love could play and for the Packers to get their financial house in order. Both will wind up being Super Bowl-level wins for the green and gold.

The Packers are carrying $66.6 million in dead-cap money this season, with $40.3 million of that going to Aaron Rodgers. That’s a remarkable 29.4% of the cap being devoted to players that are on other teams or out of the league.

As of Friday, Green Bay’s dead-cap charge for 2024 is just $5.6 million, or 2.3% of the estimated $247.3 million salary cap. After this season, Rodgers’ contract will be off the books, and the Packers will have the financial flexibility to be active in free agency for the first time since 2019.

Green Bay will almost certainly use a chunk of that money to sign Love to a long-term deal after a tremendous first season as a starting quarterback.

Last offseason, shortly before shipping Rodgers to the New York Jets, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst was asked about Love.

“Not every quarterback comes into this league ready to go out there and play,” Gutekunst said. “I think he needed a little time, but over the last year and a half or so, we’ve seen that’s the next step in his progression. He needs to go out and play.”

Gutekunst was spot on.

Not only has Love played this season, he’s been the Packers’ best player. Love is also the No. 1 reason Green Bay—which has the youngest team in the NFL—is still in the playoff race with just two weeks remaining in the regular season.

“He’s a kid that listens and tries to do what you want him to do, but at some point you have to go out there and actually do it,” Packers quarterbacks coach Tom Clements recently said of Love. “He’s gotten experience. He’s gotten better as the season has gone on. The things that we see during a game and make corrections on, he’ll write them down and work drills to try to correct them.”

Love has started the first 15 games and thrown for 27 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. In the last six games alone, Love has thrown 13 touchdown passes and one interception and has had five games with a passer rating above 100.0.

Love is averaging 239.1 yards per game, has a 91.8 passer rating, and has completed 62.5% of his passes. And Love is tied for third in the league in touchdown passes.

Aaron who?

“He can become as good as he wants to be,” Clements said of Love. “It’s encouraging to see the improvement that he has made. Once you’ve made that improvement, you know you can do it. You just have to do it consistently.”

Amazingly, Love is doing this with a kiddie corps of skill players.

Green Bay began the year with the youngest group of receivers and tight ends in NFL history. To date, four of the Packers’ top six pass catchers are rookies, while the other two are second-year players.

Green Bay’s running game was supposed to be a life preserver for Love when times got tough. Instead, Aaron Jones has struggled to stay healthy, and A.J. Dillon is averaging a pedestrian 3.4 yards per carry.

Despite those immense challenges, Green Bay ranks 11^th in the league in scoring offense at 22.2 points per game. And Love has shined in the biggest moments, leading Green Bay to three game-winning drives and two fourth-quarter comebacks.

“I always think one of the great markers of a quarterback is being able to take a team down when you need it the most.” LaFleur said. “And he’s been able to do that multiple times this year.”

Love’s prowess in tight games—and improvement throughout the season—has Green Bay sitting at 7-8 heading to Minnesota Sunday night. If the Packers win their final two games, ESPN Analytics gives them a 95% chance to reach the playoffs.

That level of success would be a nice surprise for a roster packed with first- and second-year players. Regardless of what happens in Minnesota, though, or the following week against Chicago, the year has already been a giant success.

That’s because the Packers should be “addicted to love” after a season in which love’s growth has covered up many warts on Team Chaos. And in the process, the Packers found the face of the franchise for the rest of the decade.

“I just never see him get too high or too low, whether it’s going well or not,” LaFleur said. “He’s just a guy; he’s matured a lot over these last four years, and it’s hard not to root for him, you know?”

By the looks of it, Packer Nation will be rooting for Love for years to come.