GREEN BAY — The messages chime into Jordan Love’s iPhone every now and then, just Aaron Rodgers checking in. 

Sometimes, it’s about a film clip that catches Rodgers’ attention because of the crossover between Rodgers’ Pittsburgh Steelers and Love’s Green Bay Packers common opponents. Other times, it’s just a mentor sending his protégé a note of encouragement or praise.

Suffice it to say, when Rodgers was in Year 3 of his tenure as the Packers’ starting quarterback, his predecessor, Brett Favre, wasn’t sending him any you’ve-got-this or keep-up-the-good work text messages.

Because while Rodgers and Favre forged a friendship years later (borne out of their appearance at the NFL Honors in 2013) and their working relationship inside the Packers quarterbacks room at Lambeau Field improved in Year 2 (2006) and Year 3 (2007) of their collaboration, Favre was not exactly cordial toward Rodgers after the Packers took him in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He famously said that it wasn’t his job to mentor Rodgers, and most of what Rodgers learned from Favre that first year was solely by osmosis.

Rodgers was no less agitated when the Packers picked Love in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, and while Rodgers gleefully spoke at midweek of how he won back-to-back NFL MVP awards — his third and fourth of his career after winning the 2011 and 2014 honors — he vowed at the time that he wasn’t about to be a hypocrite and treat Love the way he’d been treated 15 years earlier.

“Aaron was great,” Love recalled as the Packers (4-1-1) prepared for their matchup with Rodgers and the Steelers (4-2) at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh on Sunday night. “[How Favre treated him] is definitely something that I’ve heard stories about, obviously, his time coming into the league in the same kind of situation, getting drafted here as a rookie with a quarterback who’s already been here. So I’ve heard a lot of stories.

“[I’ve] heard Aaron talk about how he wanted my relationship with him and my experience in the quarterback room to be different than what he had. I’ve got a lot of respect for how he handled it, the way he went about me coming in and the way he welcomed me with open arms. He helped me out a ton in the quarterback room. So like I said, he was nothing but great to me.”

Obviously, the overarching storyline heading into Sunday night’s game has been about Rodgers facing his former team for the first time, and that, with a win, he would become the fifth quarterback in NFL history to have defeated all 32 teams in the league.

While Rodgers spent the week convincingly saying he held no animosity toward the organization he’d spent 18 years with and the city where he grew from a 21-year-old rookie to a 39-year-old grizzled veteran, it was hard not to notice that he never mentioned general manager Brian Gutekunst or head coach Matt LaFleur by name — even as he talked about everyone from nutritionist Adam Korzun to team photographer Evan Siegle to top athletic trainers Bryan “Flea” Engel and Nate Weir.

So make no mistake, the ultra-competitive Rodgers wants to win the game.

At the same time, he and Love remain connected. Rodgers even said that for as many Packers players are hoping to swap jerseys with him after the game, he intends to trade with Love.

“He’s a great kid, man. He really is. I enjoyed my time with him,” Rodgers said. “I’m not surprised by how he’s playing. He’s playing great. His progression was like mine — where, the first year, you get your feet wet; second year, you feel a little bit more confident; and by the time the third year comes around, you’re ready to play.

“I had my kind of moment in 2007 against Dallas, where I came in when Brett got hurt and I played well. He had kind of his moment against Philly in 2022 where he came in, I got banged up, and he looked great. I think that was kind of the message to the organization, that, ‘This guy is ready to play.’ I felt like it in 2007, and he probably felt like it in 2022.

“[I’m] really happy for him. He’s one of the real good guys in the league. I’m sure his leadership has continued to grow over there, but I like the way he’s playing. He’s super accurate. He’s taking care of the football. He’s been opportunistic, making great throws down the field and using his legs as well.”

Rodgers and Love head into the game with similar stat lines. Love has completed 69.3% of his passes for 1,438 yards with 10 touchdowns and two interceptions (108.1 rating); Rodgers has completed 68.6% of his throws for 1,270 yards with 14 touchdowns and five interceptions (105.0 rating).

Of course, Rodgers and Love will be competing with the Packers and Steelers defenses, not with each other. Rodgers would always use that line during weeks with marquee quarterback matchups with Tom Brady or other luminaries, and Love, like any good student, did the same thing when asked about facing Rodgers during the week.

And while Rodgers will be undeniably focused on winning the game and continuing his own strong start to the season, you can bet he’ll be watching Love from afar, pulling for him to keep doing what he’s doing.

“When you know his story and what he’s been through for his childhood, he’s obviously somebody at the jump that you pull for because of the adversity he’s faced in his own personal life,” Rodgers said. “The kind of guy that he is, the kind of teammate that he is, I knew he was set up for success. But it’s always difficult the first year, and the second year.

“After the first year, the second year is so difficult because now you’ve got 16-17 games on film, and now you’ve got your six division games, you’ve got opponents spending a lot of time working on those opponent scouts during the offseason and so the second year is almost more difficult than the first. But you’ve seen the consistency with him, and he just continued to ascend. That’s how you last a long time in the league.”

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