The Bears knocked out Jordan Love — Saturday, he can do the same to them

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Bears locked out Jordan Love. Now love can return the favor.

On Dec. 20, the Packers quarterback took a helmet-to-helmet hit from Bears defensive end Austin Booker, who was flagged and fined. If Love thought it was dirty, he wouldn’t say Wednesday.

“It's a hit,” he said after practice while surrounded by reporters outside the Packers’ locker room. “It is what it is.”

It will be 21 days between the last time Love took a game snap and the next time he does. Both will be on the same patch of grass at Soldier Field.

Love missed the Packers’ last two games of the season — the first to settle his concussion symptoms and the next to rest in advance of Saturday night’s playoff game on the Lakefront.

He returns to a team different from the one he left. When he was concussed, the Packers led the Bears 3-0 in a game they needed to win to position themselves for the NFC North title. Instead, they’ve lost four straight games, making the playoffs as a No. 7 seed.

No one in Green Bay will remember how the Packers reached the postseason if they defeat their rivals in Round 1. The magnitude of just the third playoff game in the history of the NFL’s grandest rivalry is not lost on the Packers quarterback.

“It's amped up over the years,” Love said. “And I think obviously, with us splitting, going 1-1 on the season, it's going to be an all-time high this week.

With their seed secure and wanting to avoid a repeat of Week 18 last year — when Love hurt his elbow and receiver Christian Watson tore his knee against the Bears — the Packers sat most of their starters in the regular season finale. Love is coming off the longest in-season layoff since he took over for Aaron Rodgers, then — but said he won’t be rusty.

“I don't have any concern about that,” he said.

When healthy, Love’s performance this season was excellent. His +.020 Expected Points Added per Dropback trailed only the Patriots' Drake Maye. He finished third in Cumulative Win Probability Added, while the Bears’ Caleb Williams was fifth.

Only one can win Saturday.

“It's win-or-go-home,” Love said. “This is what you want as a player, to be able to thrive in, and go out there and play your best football.”

Love hasn’t played his best football in the playoffs. After starring in his first-ever postseason game — he posted a 157.2 passer rating and threw three touchdowns in a wild-card round blowout in Dallas two years ago — Love has struggled through his last two. The week after he beat the Cowboys, Love threw an interception at the 49ers’ 42-yard line with 52 seconds to play and his team trailing by three.

“Tough way to go out,” he said.

He was even worse in the Packers’ Round 1 loss to the Eagles last year, throwing three interceptions and posting a 41.5 passer rating.

“I think you’ve just gotta understand, as a player and as a quarterback, that you’ve got to find ways to not make mistakes,” Love said. “Those are going to be the plays that kind of haunt you all offseason, if you go in there, make mistakes, have turnovers and things that will end up losing you the game …

“Ain’t no ‘Wish-you-could-have-got-it-back’. We’ve got to find ways to make [plays].”

At least Love has that experience. Williams has never appeared in a postseason game as a pro. The Packers are wary of the Bears’ quarterback nonetheless — the last time they saw him, he threw a 46-yard walkoff winner to DJ Moore in overtime.

“You’ve got to be very careful when you’re playing a player of his caliber … ” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “There’s been situations — you see it all over tape — where it’s, ‘No way this guy’s gonna get out of the pocket here’ and he gets out of the pocket. You hear, ‘You wanna keep him in the pocket,’ and he’s making throws from within the pocket.

“I think he’s progressed and he’s developed and he’s playing at a high level right now.”

Higher than Love? Or Lions quarterback Jared Goff? A Bears win Saturday would go a long way toward signaling a changing of the guard among the NFC North’s quarterbacks. As solid as Williams was this season — he set the franchise passing yards record — he had fewer passing yards and touchdowns than Goff and a lower passer rating than either Goff or Love.

The Packers had no problem moving the football the last time they played the Bears, whether it was Love or backup Malik Willis under center. Once they got inside the 20, though, they settled for five field goals on as many trips.

Love is concerned about the Bears’ red zone defense as much as the fact they lead the league in takeaways.

“They're always attacking the ball,” he said.

When they do it Saturday, the Packers think Love will be ready.

“The more experience you get, the more seasoned you get,” LaFleur said. “But ultimately it’s about what you do on that day — just trying to make it as much like any other game as possible.”

Saturday, though, isn’t any other game.

“The intensity will be there, the emotions will be there,” Love said. “It's a rivalry game and a playoff game at the same time, so everything will be there.”