The Green Bay Packers pulled off a 20-17 overtime win over the New York Jets on Sunday, improving to 1-1 on the season. The victory wasn’t pretty by any means, but it snapped a six-game losing streak dating back to last year and gave quarterback Jordan Love a chance to demonstrate the kind of resilience Green Bay has lacked in close games.

The NFC North picture is already compelling through two weeks. The Minnesota Vikings sit at 2-0, while the Packers, Chicago Bears, and Detroit Lions are all 1-1. Every game matters in a division this tight, and falling to 0-2 with a Thursday night game versus the Atlanta Falcons looming would have been a difficult hole to climb out of.

Overcoming adversity in the second half

Love finished the game 16-of-29 for 145 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and a 91.9 passer rating. The stat line won’t jump off the page, and the weather in New York played a factor. But what mattered most was how the Packers responded after falling behind 17-7, scoring 13 unanswered points and kicking a field goal in overtime to seal it.

Green Bay also dealt with injuries to wide receiver Jayden Reed and right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele early in the game, adding another layer of difficulty to an already challenging afternoon. The Packers overcame all of it.

“It’s a huge win,” Love said after the game. “It’s one of those games where you just gotta keep fighting. It wasn’t pretty for a lot of that game, and we’ve been in these situations before where we’ve lost these games. I think the mindset there was just to keep fighting. That’s what we did [on Sunday], but obviously there’s a lot of stuff to clean up. It wasn’t pretty, but definitely a much-needed win. Great way to finish the game.”

The Packers had lost six consecutive games, including three last season without Love on the field. In several of those losses, Green Bay held leads in the second half or the fourth quarter and couldn’t close. That’s how the situation unfolded in Week 1 against the Minnesota Vikings with another late-game collapse. This time, the script flipped. The Packers were the ones rallying from behind and finishing.

“We had to bounce back after Week 1, and like I said, the game wasn’t pretty,” Love added. “But to finish the game and get a win, that was huge. Obviously starting with two road games, so we needed this one right here. Now we’ve got a short week to get ready.”

That short week brings the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night in Week 3. The Packers can’t treat this win as a cure-all. There are plenty of issues to clean up on both sides of the ball, and the quick turnaround will test the team’s ability to correct mistakes in a compressed window.

Love’s measured approach to pressure

Love took care of the football on Sunday, and his demeanor after the game reflected a quarterback who understands the weight of his position without letting it consume him.

“Pressure is always going to be there. It’s the NFL,” Love explained. “You play quarterback, everybody is under a lot of pressure every week, and that’s just what it is. That’s what the job is. So I think I try to go out there and just handle business, play my job to the best of my ability, and take it one game at a time. After these games, go back, find out what we need to improve on, and keep working on. But it’s a long season, so it’s all about daily improvements and trying to execute to the best of my ability. There’s always going to be pressure.”

The offensive performance wasn’t spectacular, but the Packers avoided an 0-2 start and showed they can finish a game on the right side of the scoreboard when things get difficult.