Packers: Week 2 win shows the importance of ground game
After the Green Bay Packers were embarrassed on national TV during week one where they only scored seven points against the Minnesota Vikings, they responded well by beating the Chicago Bears 27-10.
One of the key issues in week one was that Aaron Jones only had eight total touches. For someone who may be the best player on the offense not named Aaron Rodgers, that is just not enough touches.
During week two, however, Green Bay learned from their mistakes and leaned on Jones.
Jones finished the night with 18 touches for 170 yards and two touchdowns, showing that if the Packers are going to go on a run this season, it will rely heavily on the back of 33.
The Bears had no answer for Jones as he averaged 8.8 yards a carry and helped the Packers dominate the time of possession, having the ball 15 more minutes than the Bears during their Sunday night matchup.
Jones was not the only running back who helped against the Bears. AJ Dillon was the perfect complementary piece to Jones. Dillon finished the night with 18 carries for 61 yards.
Dillon’s biggest play of the night did not come with the ball in his hands, it came when he was the lead blocker on Jones’ first touchdown of the game. Dillon got out in front of Jones to block arguably the best defender on the Bears, Roquan Smith, allowing Jones to squeak in for a 15-yard touchdown.
Green Bay will need to continue to ride 33 and 28 if they want continued success during the 2022 season because they clearly can not be stopped once they get rolling.
The offense looked miles better during week two than they did the previous week in Minnesota, but they weren’t the only unit that improved drastically from last week.
The defense for the Packers stepped up in the spotlight against a Bears team that was coming off a huge win against the San Francisco 49ers.
Chicago started the game off hot on offense with a seven-play, 71-yard drive that ended in a Justin Fields rushing touchdown.
After the first drive, the Packers defense played exceptional, only allowing three more points the whole game and a total of 70 passing yards. The defensive unit for Green Bay finally played to the standard they set going into the season.
Although the Packers had the Bears locked down in the passing game, the running game was still a major issue for this Packers defense. Chicago ran the ball 27 times and totaled 180 yards and a touchdown. That’s good for 6.6 yards per rush.
The lead back for the Bears, David Montgomery, finished his night with 132 yards on 15 carries. If Chicago would have leaned on their star running back more often during the game, maybe the score might have been a little closer.
After coming off an impressive win in week two against their biggest rivals, the Packers still have places to improve as they go into what may become their biggest test this season.
Traveling to Tampa in week three, Green Bay will need to have a game plan on how to slow down the Bucs’ run game and figure out how to attack Tampa’s defense, which has arguably two of the best inside linebackers in the NFL in Devin White and Lavonte David.