GREEN BAY, Wis. – Jordan Love never owned a Toyota, but he heard about the connection between his hot game and the Toyotathon sales event.

“All the time,” he said this week.

On Monday morning, as the Green Bay Packers prepared to host the New Orleans Saints, Love embraced the strange connection between the elite game and an auto sale.

Love in 2023 has gone from a struggling first-year starter to one of the hottest quarterbacks in the NFL.

Love in 2024 has gone from mistake-prone to, once again, one of the hottest quarterbacks in the NFL.

There are logical reasons for Love’s improved play: experience in 2023 and health in 2024 are obvious explanations.

Or maybe it’s the Toyotathon.

“Normally you would think, ‘Oh, it was hot in December.’ “It’s funny that it’s gotten bigger with Toyotathon,” said Pete Ingold, sales manager for Lemieux Toyota in Green Bay.

The Toyotathon is Toyota’s end-of-year sales event. In 2023, it took place from November 15 to January 3. In 2024, it started on November 15 and will continue until January 6.

In 2023, Love has 14 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions in the first nine games. Out of 32 qualified passers, he was 26th in passer rating, last in completion percentage and last in interceptions.

In 2024, Love has 16 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions in the first nine games. Out of 35 qualified passers, Love was 19th in passer rating, 30th in completion percentage and last in interceptions.

Then came the Toyotathon.

After the start of the Toyotathon, Love over the final eight games of last season ranked second in passer rating, third in completion percentage and first in touchdown-to-interception ratio (18 to 1).

(The Toyotathon ended before Love threw for 316 yards with two touchdowns in Week 18 against Chicago and 272 yards and three touchdowns in a playoff blowout at Dallas, but there’s no reason to letting facts get in the way of a good story.)

With the start of this year’s Toyotathon – also matching the bye – Love is third in passer rating, seventh in completion percentage, first in yards per attempt and has seven touchdowns and one interception.

“It’s the best ball he’s played,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said this week. “Just when I look at all the little things in terms of his ability to manipulate the pocket when he’s under duress, bring the ball up to his check-downs or whatever, I think he plays a very high level.”

Love had a more modest vision for his play.

“I feel like I’m playing at a decent level,” he said. “I think there’s definitely some things I can clean up and play even better, so I think there’s still a lot more, but it’s not bad right now.”

Critically, Love virtually eliminated the game-changing mistakes. In the five games since the bye, he has thrown just one interception. It was in Chicago when receiver Bo Melton slipped. Love has thrown seven touchdowns and no interceptions over the last four games.

The Packers have scored more than 30 points in each of the last four games, tied for the longest streak under LaFleur.

“He protects the ball, makes good decisions and makes good throws,” quarterbacks coach Tom Clements said. “We had talked about it, I guess it was four or five, six weeks ago, that we had to run our offense playing well, Jordan doing well and protecting the ball, and he bought into that.

“There are some things that we’ve talked about and we’ve worked on him in practice, and he’s worked diligently on those things, even on our walkthroughs. So he’s really focused. He’s playing well. And then the rest of the team offensively plays well, doesn’t make big mistakes and wins a few games.

Even without the abundance of touchdown passes – those went to running back Josh Jacobs – Love’s passer rating over the last five games is higher than it was over the last season. His yards per attempt are 1.2 yards better than any other quarterback over that span.

“I think as an offense, as a skill group, we have confidence no matter what opponent we play,” Love said. “Then it’s just about controlling what we can control and making those plays, but we’re confident that whoever we’re going against, we’re going to make plays.

“I don’t think many teams were able to stop us; I feel like we’re stopping. But, like I said, there’s still so much going for us that I feel like we can be even better and take this offense to another level by making even more plays. I think there is a lot more for us to do.

Love started the 30th regular season game of his career last week, so he’s still young and learning. And of course, the knee and groin injuries from earlier this season are a distant memory.

This has allowed Love to practice every day and play the way he wants.

These are all good reasons why Love is returning to elite status.

Or maybe it’s the Toyotathon.

This year’s Toyotathon ends on January 6. That’s a day after the Packers are scheduled to finish the regular season against the Chicago Bears, but about a month before the Feb. 9 Super Bowl.

Ingold, who is the uncle of Miami Dolphins fullback Alec Ingold, said there have been efforts to extend the Toyotathon to the Super Bowl.

“We heard about it,” Ingold said. “I don’t know if Toyota is going to join us, but I heard that the regional offices have been informed so they are aware of it. I don’t know if they’re going to do anything with it or not.

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