Packers - 49ers NFL Divisional Round: QB matchup | Jordan Love vs Brock Purdy

This Saturday, we’ll be treated to the NFC Divisional round game between the San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers, featuring two of the league’s most intriguing signal callers. The Packers and 49ers will be meeting in the postseason for a record 10th time, with the most recent being just two years ago when the Packers won 13-10.

However recent, these were two very different teams back then, with Aaron Rodgers still leading the Packers and Jimmy Garoppolo leading the Niners. Jordan Love was on the Packers team as Rodgers’ backup, watching, studying, and learning. Brock Purdy was still in college at Iowa State, being picked dead last in the NFL Draft the following April. Both have since emerged as elite, with Love proving he can pull the same moves Rodgers did, and Purdy proving that “Mr. Irrelevant” was a name that did not at all suit him. Now, they face each other in a do-or-die NFC playoff game. Here’s how the two compare.

Jordan Love vs Brock Purdy

While Purdy is newer in the league, Love is newer as a starter. He spent three years as Rodgers’ backup and this season, finally got his chance to start. It wasn’t a great start though as the Packers went 3-6 through Week 9. Something magical happened after that, though, as Love improved tremendously in every single stat and led the Packers to a 9-8 finish to enter the playoffs. Particularly stunning is his improvement form a 14-10 touchdown to interception ratio to a 21-1 touchdown to interception ratio.

Love reached an even higher level in last week’s Wild Card blowout win over the Cowboys, when he had a nearly perfect game. One incompletion kept him from a perfect 158.3 quarterback passer rating in the playoffs and instead finished with the fourth-best, 157.2. He ended the game 16-of-21 for 272 yards and three touchdowns.

Purdy was not supposed to be the 49ers starter, but as fate would have it, he started Week 14 last season and went from Mr. Irrelevant to leading the team to a 35-7 victory over Tom Brady’s Buccaneers. Since then, he’s continued to impress. This season, he is first in quarterback rating (72.7), yards per attempt (9.6), and touchdown percentage (7.0). That passer rating is the best since Kurt Warner in 2000. Despite an unfortunate four-interception game against the Ravens, Purdy finished with a 115 rating at home.

Where Purdy is first in passer rating (117), Love is second (112.7). Where Love is first in completion percentage (70.3), Purdy is fourth (70.1). Where Purdy is first in passing yards per game (278.7), Love is fourth, and where Love is first in 100-rating games (7), Purdy is tied for second (5). Both quarterbacks have performed incredibly well under pressure (the best in the league), with Purdy averaging 8.7 yards per attempt under pressure and Love averaging 8 yards per attempt under pressure.

The two are both elite. This game will come down to who can play better defense against these quarterbacks and their surrounding offenses.