49ers’ Nick Bosa praises Jordan Love’s playing style, takes subtle dig at Aaron Rodgers

The San Francisco 49ers enjoyed a bye week during the wild-card round and waited to see which team they would face in this week’s divisional round. 

The Green Bay Packers upset the Dallas Cowboys and earned a trip to the Bay Area for a matchup with the top-seeded Niners.

Packers starting quarterback Jordan Love finished the game with 272 passing yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Love got off to somewhat of an uneven start to the 2023 season, but he seemed to settle in and played well down the stretch.

Ahead of the pivotal Packers-49ers playoff matchup, four-time Pro Bowler Nick Bosa spoke with the media and offered an intriguing comparison between Love’s and former Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ playing style.

“They have a lot of the same guys from the past really good teams they’ve had and a quarterback who does exactly what he’s coached to do,” Bosa said via San Francisco radio station KNBR.

Bosa did acknowledge that Rodgers was a special player, but also believed the quarterback had a tendency to play outside the coach’s parameters. 

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“Aaron Rodgers is a Hall of Famer and unbelievable, but he kind of went outside of the realm of coaching, and sometimes it’s good when you have a guy who does what he’s coached to do,” he said.

Bosa and the Niners handed Rodgers and the Packers a 37-20 loss in the 2020 NFC Championship game. San Francisco also eliminated Green Bay from the postseason in 2022.

Rodgers’ 18-year run with the Packers came to an end last offseason when he was traded to the New York Jets. Rodgers led Green Bay to a Super Bowl win and won four NFL MVP awards during his storied tenure with the franchise.

At times, there did appear to be some level of conflict between Rodgers and Packers head coach Matt LaFleur as it related to the play-calling. 

Rodgers, who turned 40 last month, suffered a season-ending injury in Week 1. He went on to spend a significant portion of the season embroiled in various controversies.

Love was selected in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, and primarily served as Rodgers’ backup for three seasons. He finished his first full season as a starter with a 9-8 record and helped lift the Packers to a playoff berth. 

“He’s really good at going through his reads, playing the offense to a tee,” Bosa added about Love, via NBC Sports San Francisco.

Bosa finished the 2023 season with 10.5 sacks. The 26-year-old has racked up 53.5 sacks during his five-year NFL career. He was named the 2022 NFL Defensive Player of the Year and also earned First-team All-Pro honors that season.

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