NFL News & Notes: Love Story, Mayfield Takes Charge

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Larry Henry

Last Updated: Oct 17^th, 2025

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NFL News & Notes: Love Story, Mayfield Takes Charge

Fans of the Green Bay Packers are hoping another 27-year-old quarterback can lead the team to a league championship.

On Nov. 2, Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love turns 27. As DraftKings Sportsbook noted in a recent social media post, three previous Packer quarterbacks won their first league championship at age 27:

Bart Starr 1961
Brett Favre 1996
Aaron Rodgers 2010

Going into the Week 7 Sunday games, the Packers are one of only three NFL teams with just a single loss. The other two are the Indianapolis Colts and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On Sunday (Oct. 19), the Packers (3-1-1) travel to Arizona to face the Cardinals (2-4). At FanDuel Sportsbook, the Packers are favored by 6.5 points.

Looking ahead, FanDuel has the Packers among the Top 3 favorites to win this season’s Super Bowl. The game is set for Feb. 8, 2026, at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

The Top 3 odds favorites:

Bills +650
Chiefs +650
Packers +700

Meanwhile, Love is doing his part to lead Green Bay to a league title this season. After five games, the 6-foot-4, 219-pound Utah State product has completed 70.1% of his passes. That percentage puts Love only behind league leaders such as Jared Goff of the Detroit Lions (75.9), Drake Maye of the New England Patriots (73.2) and a small number of others. Completion percentage is considered one of the key statistics in predicting a quarterback’s success.

Mayfield Leads Bucs To Strong Start

Another quarterback with a shot at leading a current one-loss team to the league title this season is Baker Mayfield of the Buccaneers. The former journeyman seems to be on an aggressive quest to lead the Bucs to post-Tom Brady prominence. On Feb. 7, 2021, with Brady as quarterback, Tampa Bay defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, 31-9, to win Super Bowl LV. Brady was named the game’s MVP.

This season, Mayfield and his teammates are generating enthusiasm among Tampa Bay fans looking for another Super Bowl title At FanDuel, Tampa Bay is +2000 to win this season’s league championship. Also at FanDuel, Mayfield is +350 to win the league MVP title, behind Patrick Mahomes (+200) of the Chiefs and Josh Allen (+300) of the Buffalo Bills. Mayfield is fourth in the NFL in passing yardage, with 1,539 yards. He also has thrown for 12 touchdowns and only one interception.

This level of success for Mayfield represents an impressive comeback for the 30-year-old quarterback, not only as a top NFL signal caller but also dating back to a 2017 arrest in Fayetteville, Arkansas, near the University of Arkansas campus. During February of that year, Mayfield, then on the University of Oklahoma football team, was taken into custody on suspicion of public intoxication, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, according to the arrest video posted by AL.com. As CBS News reported, Mayfield accepted a guilty plea to three misdemeanors in the incident.

All of that is in the past. Now, with Mayfield leading the charge, the Bucs are off to a strong start. Even so, the team has challenges ahead, including this Monday night (Oct. 20) in Detroit against the Lions (4-2). According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the Lions are favored by 6 points.