Much is being made of the quarterback battle between Jordan Love and Caleb Williams as Saturday’s tilt rapidly approaches. On that same level, comparisons are being made between rival head coaches Matt LaFleur and Ben Johnson.
It makes sense that those two particular matchups would dominate the headlines. Still, running back Josh Jacobs could be the determining factor on Saturday.
Jacobs hasn’t looked quite right since suffering a knee injury on the concrete slab that is MetLife Stadium when the Packers played the New York Giants in the middle of November. The Green Bay Packers’ bell cow has been in and out of the lineup since. Even before the injury, Jacobs’ performance in Year 2 with the Packers paled in comparison to his 2024.
Josh Jacobs went from averaging 4.4 yards per attempt on the ground last year to four this year. His average rushing yards per game total dipped from 78.2 a year ago to 61.9 this season.
Despite those struggles, a well-rested Jacobs in a win-or-go-home spot could be a key factor in a game against Chicago’s pedestrian run defense.
The Bears finished the season ranked No. 27 in the NFL in rushing yards allowed per game. The average per game number rests at 134.5. They have neither fallen off a cliff nor improved since a rocky start; it’s been mediocre since September.
Even in Chicago’s win over Green Bay three weeks ago, backup running back Emanuel Wilson rushed for 82 yards on 14 carries, good for a 5.9 yards per carry average. That was in a game where Jacobs fumbled inside the five-yard line and ceded carries to Wilson the rest of the way.
The following week, the San Francisco 49ers gashed Chicago’s run defense. Christian McCaffrey had a season-high 140 rushing yards and the second-highest yards per carry average in a game this year at 6.1. As a team, the Niners carved up the Bears for 200 rushing yards. In Week 18, the two-headed monster of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery racked up 122 yards on a combined 27 carries.
Love is getting a lot of the headlines, and rightfully so. He also hasn’t played since suffering a concussion at Soldier Field over three weeks ago, which adds to the intrigue. Yet it’s Jacobs, who has just 16 carries in the last three weeks and was a healthy scratch against Minnesota, who will have a huge say in how Saturday’s game plays out.
If the time off has allowed Jacobs to get back, or even close to back, to the dominant force Green Bay had become accustomed to, the boost that would provide the offense is immeasurable. In a playoff setting where every standout performance or stupid mistake is magnified, being able to hand the ball off and let Jacobs go to work will alleviate a lot of pressure.
Josh Jacobs isn’t alone in the struggles with the run game early on in the season. The offensive line didn’t really mesh in the ground game, but has solidified somewhat over the last month. With Zach Tom likely to return to his post at right tackle, the group is even stronger.
In the first matchup at Lambeau Field back in early December, Jacobs looked more like the back the Packers saw in 2024. He rushed for 4.3 yards per carry and finished with 86 yards and a touchdown in Green Bay’s win over the Bears. Six of Jacobs’ runs in that contest went for first downs, and a seventh was the touchdown-scoring play. The Packers will need that version of Jacobs on Saturday.
Green Bay finished No. 15 in rushing yards per game this year (119.8) despite rushing it the seventh-most (28.9 per game) among teams in the NFL. A lot of that was due to the wonky year for Jacobs, especially following the knee injury against New York.
The hope for the Packers is that the recipe of essentially giving Jacobs a couple of weeks off from game action, coupled with Chicago’s poor run defense, will unlock things on a massive stage. If the Packers have to lean on Love more with the ground game rendered ineffective, it isn’t a doom-and-gloom spot for Green Bay, but it would make things significantly more difficult.
The quarterbacks will get the spotlight throughout the week. Ben Johnson will soak up the spotlight after comments he made about LaFleur in the offseason and another subtle jab he took at Green Bay and/or Philadelphia for resting players in Week 18. All of that is fine and dandy. The battle in the trenches will speak for itself, and when Green Bay possesses the rock, it will need to be the Josh Jacobs Show.
The rest should’ve helped recharge Jacobs’s batteries. Green Bay will need him to be his bell-cow self on Saturday.
