San Francisco 49ers All-Pro defensive end Nick Bosa says Jordan Love does what he's coached to do as opposed to Aaron Rodgers

San Francisco 49ers stud defensive end Nick Bosa has played the Green Bay Packers four times in his NFL career, including twice in the playoffs.

All of those games were started by Aaron Rodgers.

Bosa has yet to see Jordan Love on the field. That changes on Saturday night when the Packers and 49ers renew the NFL's oldest playoff rivalry in a divisional round game.

What does he expect from Love and how does that compare to what he has seen from Rodgers over the years?

Here's how Bosa described it with his interesting contrast:

"They have a lot of same guys from the past really good teams they’ve had. And a quarterback who does exactly what he’s coached to do, which 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."

Whether Bosa views a quarterback doing what he's coached to do a good thing for him remains to be seen. What we know is that Love is putting up numbers and achieving success even Rodgers, a four-time MVP, didn't in his first year as the starter for the Packers and continues to receive rave reviews from Packers head coach Matt LaFleur.

Rodgers had a lot of freedom at quarterback, especially late in his career, and Love has also shown his ability to go off schedule and improvise and make plays with his feet, especially as the season has progressed.

Love will look for better results than Rodgers did against Bosa and the 49ers in recent years. Over the last four games, San Francisco is 3-1.

Who is Nick Bosa?

Bosa, 26, is one of the best defensive ends in the NFL. He is the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year after leading the league in sacks in 2022.

He hasn't reached that level in 2023 but still earned his fourth Pro Bowl nod and anchors one of the league's best defenses.

After an All-American career at Ohio State, the 49ers selected him second overall in the 2019 NFL draft. He earned rookie of the year recognition and captured first-team All-Pro honors in 2022.

He was a five-star recruit and all-state defensive player at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His older brother, Joey, is also a star NFL player and his dad played three seasons in the NFL in the 1980s.

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Nick Bosa stats

In 68 games played in his career, he has 209 tackles (150 solo), 53½ sacks, 10 forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and one interception.

He has double-digit sack numbers in each of the last three seasons. Bosa's career-high 18½ sacks in 2022 led the NFL. Across the 2021 and 2022 seasons no one had more sacks than Bosa (34).

His 10½ sacks this season are tied for 17th in the league and his 13½ stuffs are the most of his career.

Nick Bosa stats vs Packers

Bosa has a lot of experience against the Packers, especially in the playoffs. He has helped eliminate the Packers in the postseason twice (2019 and 2021 seasons).

The most recent was in the 49ers' 13-10 NFC divisional round upset victory at Lambeau Field. Bosa had three tackles and two of the 49ers' five sacks on Rodgers. He and the 49ers defense kept the Packers without a touchdown after the game's first drive. He also had a forced fumble.

Earlier that season in the Packers’ 30-28 win in Santa Clara, Bosa was kept mostly in check. He had four tackles.

In his rookie season in 2019, he faced the Packers twice, both San Francisco wins at Levi's Stadium. He had three tackles and a sack in a 37-8 win during the regular season. Then in the NFC title game two months later he had four tackles and a sack in a 37-20 victory.

Nick Bosa's brother Joey Bosa was injured against the Packers this season

This is the second time this season the Packers will face a member of the Bosa family.

His older brother Joey Bosa, also an Ohio State alum, is a linebacker with the Los Angeles Chargers. Early in the game against the Packers on Nov. 19, Bosa suffered a foot injury. He missed the rest of the season.

Bosa, a defensive end/linebacker, has only played in 14 of the team’s 34 games the last two years because of injuries.

When healthy, Bosa is also a force like his brother. He’s been selected to four Pro Bowls and was the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2016.

For his career, he has 67 sacks in 93 games, 321 tackles, 143 quarterback hits and 15 forced fumbles.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Nick Bosa shares difference between Jordan Love and Aaron Rodgers