The Packers’ run game was awesome against the Bears in Week 2
Running the ball Sunday night looked way too easy for the Green Bay Packers. The Chicago Bears defense had a miserable night trying to bring down the Packers’ ball carriers. A.J. Dillon, Aaron Jones, and Aaron Rodgers ran for 203 total rushing yards in Week 2. The team effort put the Bears out of the game by halftime. The Packers then earned their first win of the season by an overwhelming score of 27-10.
One running back stood out in the game. Aaron Jones had a combined 170 yards through the air and on the ground. 132 of those yards came from the Packers’ hefty ground attack. Jones’ performance did not go unnoticed nationally.
Jones wins an impressive award for his efforts in Week 2
Per Wes Hodkiewicz of Packers.com, Jones was named the FedEx Ground Player of the Week for his play against the Bears. This is the fifth time that Jones has earned that nomination.
It’s the fifth time Jones has won the weekly award, tying Ahman Green for the most FedEx Ground awards by a Packers player.
Since 2017, when Jones entered the league, he is tied for fourth-most wins with Alvin Kamara and Joe Mixon. Only Derrick Henry (15), Dalvin Cook (6) and Jonathan Taylor (6) have more in that timeframe.
Jones’ 15-carry, 132-yard performance marked the third time in his career that Jones has surpassed 130 rushing yards on 15 or fewer carries, the most by a Packer since 1950.
It was a great game by Jones as the Packers dominated their NFC North rival. His impressive performances are commonplace for fans in the Packers backfield. Jones might have run the ball hard, but his backfield teammate Dillon’s blocks for Jones were their own masterpieces. Here’s Dillon blocking Bears All-Pro linebacker Roquan Smith that Jones would score a touchdown behind.
Rough play by Roquan Smith Sunday Night. Here he gets stopped from defending a TD by a RB… pic.twitter.com/9qOwT6iKE3
— Jordan Sigler (@JordanSig) September 20, 2022
The Packers will need a strong rushing attack in Week 3
With the Packers’ wide receivers still having injury issues, the team will likely continue to feed the ball to Dillon and Jones. The Packers should try and bleed the clock as much as possible to keep Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady off the field. Rodgers and head coach Matt LaFleur have stressed that they want to get the ball to their playmakers at running back this season.
The Packers will be hard to beat when their backfield gets going as they did in Week 2. After seeing Jones’s success against the Bears, one would expect LaFleur and Rodgers to use the run to open up the pass for much more of this season.
