KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Jordan Love’s mom and the Green Bay Packers had something in common on Sunday: Neither one could quite see enough of him during his first NFL start. Anna Love’s seat in the very top row of Arrowhead Stadium didn’t provide much of a view. And the Packers' coaches and front office couldn't have seen enough yet to anoint him as a worthy successor to Aaron Rodgers, whenever that day comes.

Love’s mom hasn’t missed one of her son’s games -- whether he was playing or not – and she finally got the chance to see him start an NFL game for the first time since the Packers drafted him in the first round 18 months ago. The Fox TV cameras showed her watching from high above.

“Man, that’s away games,” Love said when asked about his mother's nosebleed seats.

If Sunday’s 13-7 loss is the only start she sees this year, the Packers might have a difficult time evaluating whether Love could be a capable replacement for Rodgers should that become necessary after this season.

While Packers coach Matt LaFleur took more than his share of the blame – as he’s often done during the rare losses in his first three seasons – Love had 10 possessions over the course of 60 minutes of game time to do something remarkable and didn’t leave anyone with a lot of memorable plays.

In fact, his day could be summed up by one play in the third quarter when he twice avoided sacks before he lobbed the ball to tight end Marcedes Lewis for a 1-yard loss.

“Definitely not how you draw it up right there,” Love said. “The play breaks down, I was just trying to make the most of it and get a couple of positive yards.”

The Chiefs hassled him in similar fashion most of the game, blitzing him on more than half of his dropbacks – the highest rate a Packers quarterback has faced in nearly four years, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. Teams don’t blitz Rodgers often, because he usually carves them up when they do. But Love completed just 6 of 17 passes for 30 yards on plays when he faced five or more pass rushes and that included the last one, when he finally hit Allen Lazard for a 20-yard touchdown.

In some ways, it wasn’t the ideal circumstance for Love to get his first start, what with all the uproar last week over Rodgers’ positive COVID-19 test and his much-discussed status as an unvaccinated player.

In another way, it was the perfect opportunity. The Chiefs’ defense came in ranked 29th in the NFL in total yards allowed, including 25th in passing yards allowed, and were 30th in sacks per opponent dropback.

Yet until Love hit Lazard for the touchdown with 4:54 left in the game, he was in danger of becoming the first NFL quarterback to get shut out in his first start since Johnny Manziel in 2014.

“I think we have a pretty good idea of where he is right now and the things he’s comfortable with,” LaFleur said. “And there’s been a lot of communication. Obviously, he’s gotten all the reps. I do think that the offseason provided him a good opportunity to experience some of these plays for the first time.

“You just try to draw on those past experiences that he’s had, whether it’s during OTAs or training camp or in the preseason games, to get a feel for what he’s most comfortable with, because you want a guy that’s going to go out there and be confident in what he’s doing. And I think he will be.”

If he’s not there right now, will he be by the start of next season if this is it for Rodgers and the Packers?

“I mean, it’s a small sample size, right?” LaFleur said. “I thought he did a lot of great things. Again, I’ve got to go back and look at the tape. We see him every day in practice, and going against a really good defense, obviously. Our ‘D’ is performing at a really high level right now.

“It’s just one of those things, you take it day by day, and you either get better or you get worse. We just need him to take those incremental steps and continue to get better and better and better.”

For the sake of this season, the Packers (7-2) hope Rodgers returns for Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks (4:25 p.m., CBS); the soonest he could be cleared from COVID protocols is the day before the game, and if that happens, he will start.

For the sake of their future, they probably need more information before they would be fully comfortable with Love as the full-time starter.

When asked whether he thinks he showed the Packers enough on Sunday to assure them that he can be, he said: “I have no idea about that question.”

At this point, the Packers might not either.