GREEN BAY, Wis. — Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love has done a great job of avoiding interceptions throughout this season.

However, he hasn’t been nearly as effective in that regard during his playoff career.

The Packers’ chances of extending their season beyond this weekend depend in part on how well Love can protect the ball against the Chicago Bears, who had an NFL-leading 23 interceptions and 33 total takeaways during the regular season.

Love was picked off on just six of his 439 passes this season, but he has thrown five interceptions in his past six postseason quarters. Love will try to change that recent playoff trajectory when the Packers (9-7-1) visit the NFC North champion Bears (11-6) in a Saturday night wild-card matchup.

“Every play is something to learn from and grow from,” Love said Wednesday. “That’s the mindset I’ve always taken. I think, like I mentioned going into the playoffs having to win and then having a couple tough losses, it all shapes you going into the offseason.”

Love’s three previous playoff starts have run the gamut.

He made his playoff debut two years ago and went 16 of 21 for 272 yards with three touchdown passes and no interceptions in a 48-32 wild-card victory at Dallas. Love threw for two more touchdowns to give Green Bay a lead at San Francisco the following week before getting intercepted late in the third quarter and again in the closing minutes of a 24-21 loss.

Last season, Love threw three interceptions without a touchdown pass in a 22-10 wild-card loss at Philadelphia while many of his top options got injured either before or during the game.

“You look at the way the 49ers game ended, throwing a pick to end it, it’s a tough way to go out,” Love said. “And I think in that situation, there’s so much good stuff to learn from in a two-minute situation, understanding what the situation is, how much time is left, what the down and distance is, how much we need. And trying not to force the ball right there and make that play. And then, you look at the Eagles game, I had a (few) turnovers in that game.

“So I think it just always comes down to taking care of the ball, playing your best as a quarterback, and then putting the team in the best position.”

Love completed 66.3% of his passes this season for 3,381 yards with 23 touchdowns. He threw multiple interceptions just once, when he got picked off twice in a 34-26 loss at Denver that started Green Bay’s four-game skid to close the regular season.

Saturday will mark the first time Love has played since absorbing a helmet-to-helmet hit from Bears defensive end Austin Booker in the second quarter of the Packers’ 22-16 overtime loss at Chicago on Dec. 20.

Although he missed Green Bay’s final two regular-season games, Love doesn’t expect rust to be an issue Saturday.

Love practiced fully throughout last week after getting cleared from concussion protocol, though the Packers chose to rest him for their 16-3 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

“When you’re practicing throughout the week, you still stay fresh,” Love said. “You’re missing some time playing in the game, but we played a lot of games this season. You’ve got banked reps.”

Love has a history of playing well against the Bears.

He threw for 234 yards with three touchdowns and an interception in the Packers’ 28-21 victory over the Bears in Green Bay. Love has nine touchdown passes with two interceptions in six games against Chicago.

“We talk about it whenever it’s Bears week, just understanding the history of the Packers and this and the Bears — the oldest rivalry in the NFL,” Love said. “It’s something that I wasn’t even too familiar with before I got here, and then I think since I’ve been here, it’s something you just learn about.”

The recent history of this rivalry — the past four Packers-Bears matchups have all gone down to the wire — and the circumstances of Love’s exit from the Dec. 20 game have increased the intensity even more.

Booker was penalized for roughing the passer on the hit that sent Love into concussion protocol. Asked whether he thought the hit was a clean play, Love simply replied, “It’s a hit. It is what it is.”

Packers running back Josh Jacobs was more forthcoming on the topic.

“He’s never really rattled in those situations, but I know a lot of guys took that hit that he took a little personal,” Jacobs said. “So I’m not saying we’re going to go out there and play dirty or nothing like that, but we’re definitely going to defend our brother.”

Briefly

WR/CB Bo Melton is going on injured reserve after hurting his knee in the Packers’ regular-season finale. Coach Matt LaFleur said it isn’t an ACL injury and shouldn’t impact Melton’s availability for next season. … Jacobs says he’s feeling “the best I’ve felt probably in the last six weeks” after being slowed by a knee issue late in the regular season. … Jacobs, WR Christian Watson and S Evan Williams received the Tom Mulhern Stand-Up Guy Award given annually to the Packers who best helped reporters during the season.

By JONATHAN J. COOPER, Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords returned to the House floor Thursday on the 15th anniversary of the assassination attempt that cut short her promising political career and shocked a nation that has only seen political violence worsen in the years since.

Giffords held hands with her husband, Sen. Mark Kelly, as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries lauded her congressional service and her advocacy for tougher gun control measures. She received a standing ovation from a few dozen lawmakers in the chamber, most of them fellow Democrats.

“House Democrats stand with Gabby and with all Americans who say ‘enough is enough,’” said Jeffries, who pledged that Democrats would prioritize gun control legislation if they win the House majority in November’s midterm elections.

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Giffords was shot in the head on Jan. 8, 2011, while meeting with constituents at a grocery store in Tucson, Arizona. Six were killed and 12 injured in addition to Giffords, who was left with limited motion on one side and aphasia, a verbal disability.

No coherent motive has been established for the shooter, Jared Loughner, who had schizophrenia and shared a variety of disjointed, nonsensical conspiracies in his online posts. He was sentenced to life in prison after being forcibly medicated to make him competent to stand trial.

The targeting of a political event foreshadowed the rising tide of violence that has shadowed American democracy. There was the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, two attempts on Donald Trump’s life, and the killing last June of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband.

More recently, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated while talking to college students.

Giffords left Congress after the shooting to focus on her recovery, cutting short a political career that many in Arizona believe would have included a run for governor or U.S. Senate.

She went on to create, along with Kelly, a political group—now known as GIFFORDS—that lobbies for tougher gun laws and works to elect state and federal lawmakers who will support them.

Kelly was elected to the Senate in 2020 and was a finalist to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate in the 2024 presidential election.

Again asking the federal government to “leave Minnesota alone” in remarks Thursday, Gov. Tim Walz also urged protesters angered by the fatal shooting of a woman by a federal officer in Minneapolis to remain calm.

“The way we give them what they want is allow them to use this as an excuse to put more troops on the ground,” Walz said during a briefing at the State Emergency Operations Center in Blaine.

Minnesota has come under increased federal scrutiny in recent months as significant government fraud garnered national media attention. Walz and other Democratic-Farmer-Labor leaders say the administration of President Donald Trump is weaponizing the federal government against the state in an effort to hurt its political opponents.

“We’re exhausted as Minnesotans,” Walz said. “We’re exhausted as Americans, and this relentless assault on Minnesota for whatever reason is just cruel now. It has reached cruelness. So, so please, just give us a break.”

Funding cuts, federal agents deployed

The Trump administration has cut off or threatened to cut off federal funding for state programs, and this week deployed thousands of federal agents to the Twin Cities as part of an immigration crackdown.

“De-escalate this situation by removing yourselves from this situation with these 2,000 agents that were put here,” Walz said.

Protests continued in the Twin Cities Thursday. Walz on Wednesday issued a “warning order” to the National Guard that it might have to deploy in the event of unrest.

Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson also repeated his calls for peaceful and lawful protests.

“Please get together peacefully with others in public areas where pedestrians are allowed. March or walk together in pedestrian areas, please, not on the roadways. Make your voice heard through chants, speeches, displaying signs.”

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Minneapolis on edge

Meanwhile, Minneapolis was on edge Thursday following the fatal shooting of a woman by a federal officer taking part in the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown, with protesters venting their outrage, the governor demanding that the state take part in the investigation and schools canceling classes as a precaution.

State and local officials demanded that the immigration agents leave Minnesota after the unidentified Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot 37-year-old mother of three Renee Good in the head on Wednesday. But Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said agents won’t be going anywhere.

Noem said more than 1,500 people have already been arrested in what her agency says is its largest immigration enforcement operation ever.

Federal building

Dozens of protesters gathered Thursday outside of a federal building on the edge of Minneapolis that is serving as a major base for the immigration crackdown. They shouted “No More ICE,” “Go Home Nazis,” “Quit Your Job,” and “Justice Now!” as Border Patrol officers pushed them back from the gate, doused them with pepper spray and fired tear gas.

“We should be horrified,” protester Shanta Hejmadi said. “We should be saddened that our government is waging war on our citizens. We should get out and say no. What else can we do?”

For Stephanie Abel, the shooting and protests stirred up memories of how Minneapolis felt after police killed George Floyd in 2020. Abel, whose daughter was taking part in the demonstration, said she’s started carrying cash and making sure her gas tank is full because she thinks Good’s killing could spark the sort of widespread protests that broke out after Floyd’s death, which were sometimes violent.

“I’ve been saying for weeks to my friends and family: Somebody is going to get killed,” she said.

Gregory Bovino, a senior U.S. Customs and Border Patrol official who has been the face of the crackdowns in other cities, walked along the long line of officers, looking at the crowd as protesters yelled at him, including a man who shouted, “Border Patrol should be along the border!”

Many activists tried to converse with the officers and persuade them that the job they were doing was wrong.

Site of shooting

At the site of the shooting on Portland Avenue hundreds Thursday gathered to hear speakers. A memorial was set up with flowers, candles, books and other items in honor of Good. Minister JaNaé Bates, co- director for ISAIAH, told a group that Good was “a mother, a U.S. citizen, a Minnesotan, a legal observer.”

“She was not armed, she was not a threat, she was standing for freedom,” Bates said, “and the federal government answered her courage with a bullet.”

The anti-immigration enforcement protests weren’t confined to Minneapolis.

Demonstrations also took place or were expected to Thursday in New York City, Seattle, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Antonio, New Orleans and Chicago. Protests were also scheduled for later this week in Arizona, North Carolina, and New Hampshire.

This story contains information from the Associated Press. 

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R&B star Bruno Mars will headline his biggest local show to date when he plays U.S. Bank Stadium on May 13.

Tickets go on sale at noon Jan. 15 through Ticketmaster.

Mars, 40, made his local concert debut at St. Paul’s Roy Wilkins Auditorium in May 2011 after his hits “Just the Way You Are,” “Grenade,” “The Lazy Song” and “Marry You” made him one of the new decade’s most promising young stars.

While touring his second album, “Unorthodox Jukebox,” Mars sold out the former Xcel Energy Center twice. He filled the St. Paul hockey arena three more times after he released his third record, 2016’s “24K Magic.”

In the years since, Mars has focused on collaborations and guested on singles from Gucci Mane and Kodak Black, Ed Sheeran and Chris Stapleton, Rose, Sexyy Red and Cardi B. In 2021, Mars paired with Anderson Paak and released the album “An Evening with Silk Sonic,” which spawned the hits “Leave the Door Open,” “Skate” and “Smokin’ Out the Window.” Paak will open for Mars at USBS under his DJ Pee.Wee guise.

Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars perform onstage during the 67th Annual Grammy Awards at Crypto.com Arena on Feb. 2, 2025 in Los Angeles. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

Last year, he issued a duet with Lady Gaga, “Die with a Smile,” which won a Grammy and became a worldwide smash.

Monday, Mars confirmed a Feb. 27 release date for his long-awaited fourth album, “The Romantic.” The first single is due out Friday.

Mars’ many other hits include “Locked Out of Heaven,” “When I Was Your Man,” “Treasure,” “24K Magic,” “That’s What I Like” and “Uptown Funk,” his collaboration with super producer Mark Ronson.

Mars has won 16 Grammys, 14 American Music Awards, four Brit Awards and 14 Soul Train Awards.

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