Steve Mariucci Coached Brett Favre, Steve Young; What’s View of Jordan Love?

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Steve Mariucci knows a little something about elite quarterback play.

From 1992 through 1995, he was the Green Bay Packers’ quarterbacks coach. His star pupil, of course, was Brett Favre.

From 1997 through 1992, he was head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. His quarterback was Steve Young, who successfully replaced Hall of Famer Joe Montana.

As an NFL Network analyst, Mariucci watched Aaron Rodgers, who replaced Brett Favre, and now Jordan Love, who replaced Rodgers.

“I am a Jordan Love fan but those are big shoes to fill when this team has had so much success at quarterback over so many years,” Mariucci told Casino.org. “It was a little bit like replacing Joe Montana and Steve Young in San Francisco. It’s just hard. Jordan Love is the exact right guy to do that, though.”

Mariucci sees the talent and intangibles to become a championship-winning quarterback.

“He’s a good human being,” Mariucci said. “He’s a clever player who is very well thought out in what he says and how he acts. He conducts himself well and trains incredibly hard, so I don’t think it’s too big for Love to emulate their success and win a Super Bowl.

“He can’t replace these two Hall of Famers, but he can show everyone that he will also get that same credit one day. I just like his smarts and his coachability.”

Mariucci was born in Iron Mountain, Mich., and grew up as a Packers fan. He called Matt LaFleur a “good friend” and the right coach for Love.

“Having Matt come into the Packers organization after all that success and blending their offenses, implementing his strategies and getting Jordan alongside Aaron Rodgers was great for Love’s development,” he said.

Now, can Love take the next step?

Favre won three NFL MVPs and one Super Bowl. Rodgers won four NFL MVPs and one Super Bowl.

Love, on the other hand, has led the Packers to three consecutive playoff berths but no division championships and only one playoff berth. The team is coming off back-to-back nine-win seasons.

“I think at some point he’s going to be answering all the questions about him. He’s going to prove that he can win like the other guys did,” Mariucci said.

“He’s going to show how deep he can take them into the playoffs and that he’s a Pro Bowler. Maybe he is even a first-team All-Pro guy? We’ve got a lot of good quarterbacks in the National Football League, and I think he’s just trying to prove himself.”

Love is coming off his best statistical season in terms of completion percentage, passer rating and interception avoidance. This offseason, he focused on his balance in order to take his performance to another level.

“It’s something that I’ve made a focus of coming into training camp and I want to keep improving,” Love said last week following the joint practice against the Cardinals. “I always think practice is something where you can get in there and work at this stuff.

“But I feel like until you’re really getting hit in the pocket, like in games, that’s when all that stuff starts popping up more and you feel that pocket a little bit more and you might get a little antsy in the pocket. So, that’s really where I want to focus on is being able to just keep my base, keep my balance, get through my reads – especially if you’re taking any type of hits or things like that. It just helps you be accurate. But I think I’ve done a great job so far in practice, but I think the game is a whole different beast.”

This will be a big season for Love, who ranks 13th in the NFL MVP odds at FanDuel Sportsbook. He’s down a couple weapons following the departures of receivers Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks. Plus, running back Josh Jacobs and premier defensive player Micah Parsons won’t be on the field to start the season.

More than ever, it’s going to be up to Love to be the driving force behind winning games rather than being more of a supporting player.

“They seem to have a huge amount of trust in Matthew Golden, which I can get behind, but Christian Watson must stay healthy and Jayden Reed has got to be productive,” Mariucci said. “They added Skyy Moore for depth, but a lot of that will depend on what kind of receiving core they continue to have for Jordan Love’s development.”

The Packers are 1.5-point underdogs for Week 1 at the Vikings.

“I’m ready. Definitely excited for Week 1 kickoff,” Love said. “Got a little bit of time until then, but I think everybody in this locker room is ready and, obviously, we’ll have a good game plan. We’ll prepare for that week, do as much as we can leading up to that. But I’m definitely ready to get the season kicked off.

“You can feel guys in the locker room that are excited, they’re hungry, and they’re ready to go get it started.”

The Packers have a 53-man roster. Here are the winners and losers from a wheeling-and-dealing Cutdown Sunday. ⬇️https://t.co/AA4fGrVXmc
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) August 31, 2026

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